


A Little Bitty Crazy

by XinySnom



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bittybones (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Bitty Hybrid, Blueberry Bitty - Freeform, Colorful Cursing, Crazy Bitty Bones, Edgy Bitty with a foul mouth, Lil Bro Bitty - Freeform, Multi, Mutant Lil Bro Bitty, Redberry Bitty, Sexual Tension, Soul Bond, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), crystal-loving Blueberry, pure bite bitty, reader is female
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:54:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 66,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25670011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XinySnom/pseuds/XinySnom
Summary: inspired by a scene in my head about a crazy Bitty-Bones, which grows into a story of craziness and bizarre happenings.What happens when you suddenly get a wild idea and adopt three different Bitties? This is a story of just that; of how a single decision can spark an epic tale of adoration, love, soulmates, heart-break and multi-dimensional happenings. At the heart of it all stands a pack of Bitties and their Angel-Cake/Goddess/Lady.
Relationships: Sans (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 115
Kudos: 241





	1. Troglodyte

She sat in her car and watched, transfixed, as the weird little bitty bones danced on the hood. The walking, human-like frame of bones couldn’t have been more than five inches max and wore a hot-pink ankle sock – which it somehow fashioned into a dress?

The choice of color threw her as the dancing skeleton looked hilariously hideous, as the tiny, grinning mouth most likely came from an Edgy type; shark-like teeth with the single gold fang sitting in the right side of its face. The gaping hole on its left side – black as pitch – was obviously a tell-tale sign of a Horror Bitty. Its eye-lights were blue and currently had flickering stars as it gambled about – was it a Blueberry type too?!

“SHITE BALLS!!”

She flinched as the tiny, bitty voice startled her with just how loud and warped it sounded; like a chipmunk was trying to gargle pebbles. The thing was now plastered against the windshield, smashing an overly large green grape against the glass, giggling manically.

Her eyes couldn’t remove themselves from the tiny train wreck that was happening on the car’s hood. Picking up her phone, she quickly googled the closest Bitty shop to call for what? A rescue? Help? A psychiatric-ward for bitties? The closest shop was twenty minutes away. Thank god for the still-rampant bitty-craze that was two-years strong.

The little critters – named Bitties - had popped up around the same time as the mysterious monster creatures which emerged from – shockingly enough – Mount Ebott: a smaller-end mountain range somewhere in two states over. That news had taken the country, then the world, by storm. Everybody went nuts when they heard about monsters; and keeping up with their ancient history, humanity divided themselves on the issue. Some people advocated for Monster rights, while the other half cried over how it was the apocalypse. Monsters Have Rights! VS. Death to All Monsters. Such political shit-storms terrified her, so she really didn’t become too extreme vocally. She was all for learning about monsters before casting judgment. (Wise were her ways.) Now, two plus years later, the Little Bitties were still all the rage. The tiny companions had a second wave of trend-setting, record breaking population boom five months back. They made for great companions for those who could afford it.

“Hullo this is Bitty-Topia, Mama Jazz speaking.” The feminine voice on the phone sounded peppy and giggly, giving hint that the owner was probably hugging a bitty. Go figure, the little buggers were adorable.

“Uh…yea, this is ____ calling about…a bitty that’s currently – mashing a grape on my car’s front window.”

“Oh my…” Mama Jazz gasped. “That is…certainly…different?” A pause before: “Do you feel threatened? Because if you do, I highly suggest not exiting the car.”

“No…not threatened…just…OMG!” ____ had to stop and place a hand over her mouth as a loud laugh tore out of her throat. “This little skelly is so weird.”

The Bitty had finished smashing the grape against the window and now had its adorable tiny blue and red tongue licking the residue left behind from its mess. The amount of translucent magenta saliva the bitty was leaving in the window was hilarious – it strongly reminded her of the scene in Lilo & Stitch – where Stitch was using its tongue to make a slimy mess on the glass prison he was in.

“Miss Jazz? Pardon me while I take a picture. A picture would most likely explain the situation far better than my words could…”

“Of…of course.” The Bitty shop owner sounded kind of lost. She didn’t blame her. This whole situation was spiraling out into the weird-zone. Quickly snapping a picture as the bitty was mid-tongue swirl around a grapey mess, she chuckled at the thing’s antics. The bitty stopped what it was licking and froze, focusing its now red-eyes dead-center on hers.

“Did ya just take a pic of me?” the voice was muffled through the glass, but she basically understood it.

“Well, hello to you too, little Troglodyte.” She grinned as she now held the bitty’s attention.

“FUCK-O-WISPS!” the thing screamed and started slamming the unfortunate grape on the glass, repeatedly until it wasn’t much but a messy pulp mixed into its tiny phalanges. It was disturbingly adorable.

“There, I sent the picture, Miss Jazz.” She turned her attention back to the phone, keeping half a gaze on the tiny train wreck on her hood. The neon-pink skeleton was certainly different from the ones she saw in passing.

“Oh, oh my…” the shock in Jazz’s voice was startling; given cheerful she sounded earlier. “That…poor bitty.”

“Uh, yeah.” ___ blinked as the neon-pink clad bone bitty began licking the window again, rather lewdly. “Tell ya what, I’ll try and catch it to bring it in to the center. The poor thing looks rather dirty and in REAL need of help!”

The laughter made her voice catch as the little troglodyte had moved on to rubbing its little bony butt back and forth, smearing more of the smooshed grape on the glass.

“Oh, ok.” Miss Jazz seemed hesitant. “Are you a bitty owner?”

“No.” ___ snorted, trying not to burst out laughing. That would most likely be rude to do on the phone.

“Have you ever – at any time in the past – interacted with Bitties?” Jazz questioned more.

“Yea, but in passing.”

“I CAN HEAR YA, YA KNO!” the bitty screamed at her. “I AIN’T going t’ no fuckin’ bitty center again ya maggot-wearing goose turd!”

“Well now…” Mama Jazz said over the phone. “That bitty certainly has a mouth on it.”

“I’m sorry…I’m going to have to call you back.” ____ the laughter in her voice barely contained, she hung up and bit her lip to keep it from spilling out.

“Yea, that’s right, ya pompous blind jizz-monkey.”

“WHAT THE HECK IS YOUR PROBLEM, you Troglodyte!” ___ snorted and vented back.

“HUMANS WHO MADE ME HIGH!”


	2. Bitty-Topia

“Sooo…it’s Him again, isn’t it, Mama Jazz?” the Lil Bro Bitty clacked his jaw as his eyelights left the image on Mama Jazz’s phone.

“Yea, it looks like it.” The seven-foot tall monster rabbit-fish responded. Mama Jazz leaned on the grey and blue swirled counter of the front registrar; her gold-colored eyes locked on the phone’s picture. “It’ll be the sixth time this week that little trouble-maker has gotten away from his humans.”

“So…what happens now?” the Lil Bro shifted against Jazz’s arm, reaching up to pull the tiny lollipop from his mouth with a pop. “Are you going to call his people or take him as a return?”

“Well, I honestly have no clue, Honey.” Mama Jazz sighed at her companion Bitty and put the phone down. “We shall see what happens today. I have a feeling that little snot has met his match in the comedy department. Did you hear the laughter in her voice?”

“Yea, I did.” The Bitty grinned. “If anything, she’ll have no clue her world’s about to change if he’s gonna be her first Bitty.”

~~~

Waking up and stretching with a yawn, the little Berry Bitty grunted as his jaw popped, ignoring the looks his pack-mates gave him. He really didn’t care about the weird looks sent his way. He was a unique Bitty and was proud of it. It didn’t matter that he had an Obsession with everything Crystalline or that his favorite color was a soothing turquoise instead of baby-blue or even that he slept in a pile of glass drops!

He was Blue Quartz the Crystal-berry Bitty!

Sitting up and wriggling around to grab his precious treasure, Quartz vibrated with bliss as his arms wrapped around the slender purple obelisk that was his amethyst. Since arriving here two weeks ago; Quartz had, like the rest of his ilk, had energy to burn – so Mama Jazz, the owner of the store, had let the Blueberries explore the store during the hours before opening. To his everlasting joy, he found the amethyst treasure in fish section of the store and refused to let it out of his sight ever since. He had asked Mama Jazz to let him keep it and she agreed, letting him carry it with him everywhere.

Meandering over to the glass partition that made up his ‘little space of the world’, he mooshed his adorable little face to the flat glass surface to help him get a view of today. Looking out over the two or three shelves between his cubicle and the outside window, Quartz acknowledged the sun-crystal was rising from its larger than life bed from the trees. The other Bitties didn’t believe him when he stated the sun was the largest ever orange and red crystal. Oh well.

Today was The Day!

Quartz could feel it in his tiny ‘crystal’ bones – today was the day when his Someone would walk into the store and adopt him! Sure he had several little kids ooh-ed and ahh-ed over him just because he was the cutest (and only) Crystal-Berry Bitty around, but not a single human had that tell-tale smell about them. The smell of cold, beautiful crystals. He refused to go home with any human who never touched a crystal.

“HEY, QUARTZ!” a voice to his left broke him from his trance. His hands had been stroking the amethyst. “DON’T FORGET TO EAT SOMETHING, EH?”

Turning and looking to the speaker, Quartz grinned at the tallest Blueberry Bitty. Blue Bean had been the tallest Blueberry of his pack, and the most caring – often giving gentle reminders to the crystal-obsessed bitty to eat.

“NYAH! OF COURSE, THANK YOU BLUE BEAN. I WAS JUST WATCHING THE SUNRISE BECAUSE I FEEL TODAY IS GOING TO BE SUPER SPECIAL!” Quartz stood up and shifted his treasure letting it lean against his leg like the skateboard he once saw. It was good (and bad) that the obelisk wasn’t any longer than his arm. Otherwise he would have to create a backpack to carry it around.

“OH YEA? WHY IS THAT?” Blue Bean hopped over to Quartz, an exuberant smile coming from his bone mouth, allowing the shiny white teeth to gleam.

“NYAH! TODAY IS THE DAY I’M GOING TO GET ADOPTED!” Quartz stated proudly. His announcement drew the rest of his group over as they chattered excitedly.

~~~

Stopping briefly to glance up at the colorfully lit sign – Bitty-Topia -, ___ clucked as the bucket-hat rocked twice from between her hands. Looking down at the little Troglodyte that was currently sleeping in the hat, her mouth couldn’t help but twitch in a smirk. Little Shit gremlin.

It had taken a good ten minutes to get the bugger to calm down from whatever it was the humans used to get him ‘high’ – and it had been most likely the best impromptu show she had the honor of viewing.

After stepping out of the car in attempts to wrangle the little bitty into her hands, explaining how it would be a good idea to get himself checked for damage at the Bitty center, ___ was exposed to the little-hellion in the neon-pink-sock’s magnitude-5 eruption of a tantrum.

Somehow, on God’s green earth, the Bitty suddenly produced a full bag of grapes and promptly began stomp-smashing them onto the hood of her car, punctuating each grape’s death with a string of brilliantly colored curses. It became more violent as she increased her attempts to grab him – the bi-colored bones the hellion summoned puncturing the grapes into the poor hood. The car repair shop would pee themselves with laughter upon hearing this story.

She then turned to bargaining, asking what she could do to help him calm down. That worked like NOT; sending the Bitty into a full-blown verbal meltdown, hurling both curses and bone-impaled grapes at her. Vlad the Impaler would be jealous of the Bitty’s ability to pull-shot grapes.

So, ____ did what any SANE person would have done firsthand, took a step back and waited until the little bitty wore himself out. Which he did, and thus, ended up asleep in a bucket hat. No way was she going to provoke the little turd awake by touching him.

Which brought her to the front of Bitty-Topia, inhaling/exhaling deeply to prepare herself for whatever was going to happen next – because she had a feeling she wouldn’t get off THAT easily just by dropping the insane grape-covered bitty off on the front counter.

~~~

The bell over the door twinkled as the panel of metal and glass was pushed open. ___ stepped hesitantly in, her eyes taking in all the information her senses gave her – sight, sound, taste and vibes.

Vibes: It was a cool place, feeling up-beat and inviting. Homely and personal; unlike the regular pet supplies chain stores. The comforting aura of belonging belied the store-front appearance of it being one in a thousand corporate-pushed chain-stores. The store had been around for nearly two years – it had to be doing something right.

Taste: it wasn’t at all bad, in fact, the store had undercurrents of cinnamon, spice and a tang of fruitiness that she couldn’t pinpoint the source. Again, inviting. She couldn’t remember a store having a welcoming taste.

Sound: the entrance didn’t have much sound to discern, but the ambiance sounded more and more like a bustling marketplace from the outskirts; many tiny voices – most likely the bitties the Bitty-Topia marketed.

Sight: The overall store had a pleasing environment, and the overhead lights were a soft cream and inviting, instead of white harshness. The floor had cream-green tiles motif of white bones interspersed with pale blue tiles with tiny footprints. It was a large store, given how she couldn’t see straight to the back. Despite it being quite packed with merchandise and sections – ceiling signs hanging printed in large letters: CLASSICS, SWAPS, FELLS, LAMIAS, CLOTHES, HOUSING, SUPPLIES, TOYS and MEET AND GREET – the store’s organization was inviting and enticing, luring the luck-less or lucky shopper to fall slave to the wallet’s burning pull.

There were only a few shelves of odd pet supplies before giving way to four cases of…Bitties.

OMG THEY WERE SO CUTE!

The two by two displays featured four kinds of small skeleton companions: Sansys, Papys, Lil Bros and Blueberries. The dozen Sansys were lounging around like it was five-O-clock somewhere, some of them in tiny Bitty hammocks and beach chairs! Another dozen Papys, who were slightly taller than their Sansy brothers, were walking around their enclosure, with a few of them climbing the wall separating them. Two or three of the energetic little bones were talking sternly to Sansys. The six or so gangly chilled-out Lil Bros were talking among themselves, and leaning against the walls, keeping their eyes moving – mostly towards the Blueberry enclosure behind them. The five energetic Blueberry skeletons were in the enclosure and were all doing a synchronized workout session!

All of them wore tiny bitty clothing in the colors suited to their types – blue and white for Sansy, white/red for Papys, orange/khaki for Lil Bros and periwinkle blue/white for the energetic Blueberries.

HHHNNNNN!! WAY too cute! Her heart trembled. Tiny, cute things definitely amped her excitement up, and these tiny skeletons were totally adorable.

Which brought her crashing back to the little gremlin in the hat between her hands, the little mega pile of nasty attitude. She looked down again to only bite her lip to steel herself against the utterly adorable motion of its bony leg flinching and kicking out twice before tucking back against his body. HHNNNNNN! OMG ADORABLE!

“Hulloooo Welcome to Bitty-Topia, I’m Mama Jazz.”

Turning her eyes towards the peppy, familiar voice, ___ tilted her head and smiled, restarting the movement that brought her to this store in the first place. Finally coming to a stop in front of the counter, her gaze took in the figure of ‘Mama Jazz’. She looked up.

The female monster who stood behind the counter was tall – had to be taller than six foot – and had jet-black rabbit fur spotted with grey/green fish scales. There wasn’t rhyme nor reason to the scales dotting the visible…skin...of the rabbit-fish lady; but it was both beautiful and shocking.

“Uh, hi?” ___ blinked and smiled; catching herself before her gaze turned into a stare. “So you’re Miss Jazz? I’m ___ and called about half hour ago.”

“OHHH!” the golden orbs of the scaled rabbit monster lit up and Jazz smiled. “The lady who had the crazy bitty dancing on her car! Didja manage to get ‘em under control?

“Uh, yea…” ___ held out the bucket hat to the scaled-rabbit and felt a tiny smirk form on her lips. “I honestly have no clue what to do with him. At first, I thought the hole in his head was real, but somebody must have drawn it on with a sharpie.”

“I s-swear it wasn’t me.” She stuttered when Mama Jazz glanced at her. “I-I wouldn’t hurt Bitties like that! I-I was just pulling into the garage when the little bugger appeared on the hood and started smashing a-a grape on the window.”

“She’s telling the truth, Mama Jazz.” Another, smaller voice interrupted.

___ squeaked when she felt a slight weight on her shoulder and turned her head to see an orange piece of clothing and a tiny bony hand waving at her.

“Honey, be nice and don’t startle the lady.” Jazz snorted, as the weight left her shoulder and the owner of the orange article of clothing reappeared on the counter.

The Bitty who appeared on the counter was the tallest she’d seen so far; eight inches of lazy suave-looking bones. The pale tangerine hoodie it was wearing hung loosely on its bony frame and clashed with the neon green and neon-pink palm-tree print Hawaiian shorts.

“Oh my god, you let a bitty dress itself in that!?” The words slipped out of ___’s mouth before her brain belatedly decided on a filter.

…  
…  
…

The Lil Bro skeleton doubled over in laughter as Jazz snorted and face-planted into her palm.

“Oops, uh…did I say that out loud?” ___ felt her face turn red and FINALLY, carefully placed the bucket hat on the counter. “Uh, look I’m sorry, could you just…maybe see if this little gremlin is ok? It sounded like he…has people already and they’d probably want him back.”

“Yea, yea ok, I get it. This little guy does need a good bath.” Jazz grinned at her. “But, ah, would you mind sticking around for a bit; I want to talk to you about this little…gremlin.”

~~~

Walking back to the two-by-two Bitty display with the four skeletal types, ___ sighed to herself, knowing it was FAR too late to save her lonely little soul and wallet. She was NOT leaving Bitty-Topia alone. The question was: would/could/should she stop at just one?

Heck, she was already attached to the grape-gremlin she left her bucket hat with. Too bad he had humans already – even if said humans were shit in her mind. Who gets a tiny skeleton high and lets it loose?

Chuckling again as her brain replayed the scene on her car, ___ felt a smile slip onto her lips as the Blueberries noticed her return to their cases and began to migrate over for a closer inspection.

“HUMAN!” Blueberry 1 squealed joyfully.

“MISS!” Blueberry 2 waved his gloved hands in the friendliest wave.

“MAIDEN!” Blueberry 3 had his arms around himself in a hug.

“YOU CAME BACK!” Blueberry 4 gave a bright grin, showing off his little Bitty teeth.

“GREETINGS, MISS!” a taller Blueberry gave a two-fingered salute, acting cool.

“Uh, hi, y’all are super cute.”

“NYEHA!” the five round skeletons blushed their namesake color. The energy they emitted of course drew over the Papys and the Lil Bros; the Sansys just gave her curious looks and waved, all of them just too lazy to get up and move. Little blue slug-skeletons.

“OH MY GOSH, YOU’RE SO COOL, HUMAN!” One of the Papys announced and that started the migration of the very energetic Bitties to one cubicle.

“DO YOU LIKE PUZZLES?” Another Papy asked.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY COOKING HOBBIES?” A third Papy inquired, gazing up at her with avid, curious eyes.

“Whoa, Whoa, wait up, ya cuties…” ____ lifted her hands in show of surrender. “TOO many questions coming at me at once.”

“SHE’S RIGHT!” The taller Blueberry jumped in front, putting himself between her and the group. “IF WE ALL HAVE QUESTIONS, WE SHOULD TAKE THEM TO THE MEET AND GREET AREA!”

The very-well-organized Blueberry turned to her and gave a dazzling grin that nearly ( ~~virtually~~ ) knocked her over. Cute AND Handsome. Holy Cute Aggression Syndromes.

“How haven’t you been adopted yet?” she murmured to herself.

“‘Cuz, he’s my cool big bro.” the same, suave-voice from the counter entered her ears as the slight weight, yet again, settled on her shoulder, making her squeak.

“BROTHER, DO NOT STARTLE MISS LIKE THAT, YOU LAZY BONES!” The tall Blueberry stomped his foot and glared up to her shoulder. This was it; she was going to have a death by Bitties; sneaky, tiny, cutie skeletons.

“Eh, sorry bro.” The color-clashing Lil Bro gave a lazy grin. “Tibia-nest, I canoe resist a good prank.”

The Papys and Blueberries ALL groaned at the punny sentence as the rest of the Lil Bros clapped and grinned. ___ face-palmed and groaned along with the Blueberries.

“Oh. My. God. The puns!”

~~~

Growling and pushing against the insistent finger petting his head, Fredrick grumbled more, wanting to sleep.

“Wake up, you little stinker.” An all too familiar voice demanded of him. “You’re a grapey mess and I need to get you cleaned up.”

“Fuck off, Jizz-Rabbit.” He hissed as the black furry finger urged him again. Without thinking, he opened his jaws and bit down hard on the offending finger.

“That’s Mama Jazz to you, you little shit.” His body was lifted and opened his eyes. Tan orbs glared down at him. Lo and behold, it was the overly tall, sadistically-kind black rabbit-freak-fish from his home Bitty-shop. He unlatched his mouth, dropping the tiny distance to the table below.

“YOU’RE a little shit.” Fredrick snarled. Shite, he was definitely in for a B A D T I M E for biting the head honcho Mama.

“Great, now I’ma get fuckin’ dusted.” He muttered sourly to himself. “I’m sorry Ji-Jazz.”

“Yea, you better be, you little shit.” The pet-name the rabbit gave him wasn’t said in spite, but tolerant amusement. “This is the tenth time you’ve been brought in, F, and its only Wednesday.”

“It ain’t my fuckin’ fault my dumb-shit humans are druggies.” The bitty frowned as he stood up, looking at himself – in his neon pink sock glory. “A neon pink sock? WHY DA FUCK AM I WEARIN’ A FUCKIN’ NEON PINK SOCK?”

“Because you live with druggies.” Jazz snorted and turned to the sink, preparing a bitty-bath. “A nice gal brought you in because you decided to do a grape dance on her car hood.”

“Great…a bleedin’ fuckin’ heart. Dust me fuckin’ now.” Fred hurriedly striped the horrid pink sock off his bony frame and stomped over to the bath-bowl. “What’d the girly say?”

“Not much, but I have the darnedest feeling she’s going to take you home.” Jazz sat on a stool and simply handed the crass little bitty a corner of soap, glaring as the shit slid into the water. “She’s never had a bitty before.”

“Fan-fuckin’-tastic; a bitty-virgin.” He snarled at Mama Jazz before letting his tough, prickly exterior drop. He gave a sad frown as he half-heartedly scrubbed his phalanges with the soap. “Are ya gonna send me back t’the druggo humans, Mama?”

“Well, what happens next to completely up to you.” Jazz leaned forward, getting on his five-inch level. “The poor lady who brought you in is super cute and called earlier, telling me about this ‘crazy bitty’ smashing a grape on the glass. Even sent a pic.”

“Fuck-o-wisps.” He frowned more, his bi-colored eyelights narrowing.

“I took a sniff of her; she’s clean and patient. She’s not a druggo. Poor thing looked incredibly nervous holding you in her cute little hat.” A black furry finger flicked to a tan hat on the counter.

“Tch, she would be, I went crazy psycho on her car.” He spat into the bath bowl, his brain sorting through the drug-induced crazy fit. “I uh…kinda porcu-pined ‘er hood.”

“Yea, about that…you’re going to get cleaned up, dress in a decent outfit and apologize to her.” The black-rabbit narrowed her eyes at him.

The snarly bitty stopped cleaning his tiny bones and looked at Jazz, stunned. “Wha?”

“You’ve made an impression on the girl, Fredrick, and you’re at a crossroads of life: go home with her or stay here and hope somebody else has the balls to adopt you.”

“I hate th’ name Fredrick…ya damned fish-cuck.”

~~~

Sitting on the floor proved to be – apparently – what her horoscope gave her today. Not that she ever read anything of the sort – having gone paperless years ago; and the news phone app never really gave the tidbits local-printed papers did. But sitting on the floor was what the stars and planets aligned to her astrological sign – sitting and being bombarded with questions and demands. Bitties and people were cloistered in the large meet and greet area.

It was excellent the space was large; as many people, employees and Bitties all utilized the space. ___ currently shared the Meet/Greet area with eight other people, three staff (one of them being a sandy-orange and black cat by the name of Burgherbrók) and several Bitties…like somewhere in the upper forties.

Most of the Bitties were bouncing back and forth between her and the six other humans, shooting off excited questions, showing off their cute little skills like bone-throwing and making cute-eyes or trying to climb said humans. It had been a good ten minutes since sitting on the floor and the wave who accompanied her from the store-front display had long since moved on to the other humans – mainly because one or three of them were younger kids.

___ had been slightly awestruck to see the wide variety of Bitty types in the meet and greet area. Several pudgier, red-wearing Sansys (Edgys) had meandered up and started flirt-demanding to be adopted, promising to behave when entering their new home (hers) and a few of them attempted to bite her fingers as she offered pets.

Bosses, who looked like pointier, harsher versions of Papys, had all come across as rough, rude and conceded, asked if she wanted to adopt any of them. A quick ‘not really’ sent a message to the other Bosses and they all promptly left her alone.

Then the other type of Fells – Blackberries, who were bossy, sharp-toothed versions of Blueberries - swooped in and began listing off their recommended daily schedules. The short story of those encounters were better left forgotten – those dark-purple copies of Blueberries were demanding and high-maintenance - nothing she wanted to deal with.

The lazier fur-wearing, shark-toothed Papys – Puppers, the Fellswap equivalent of Lil Bros – were adoring her like there was nothing else in the world and made her…rather uncomfortable. A few of them smelled like cigarette smoke – no thank you.

“MISS! YOU WERE VERY BRAVE MEETING THOSE FELLSWAP BITTIES!” The taller blueberry, Blue Bean, had stuck with her to act a buffer for the more…aggressive Fell and Fellswap tiny bones.

“Heh, yea, those Bitties were a bit much for me.” ___ chuckled as the tall Blueberry leaned against her leg.

“THEY CAN BE LOUD AND DEMANDING FOR A FIRST TIME BITTY OWNER.” He nodded and looked up at her as she sighed.

“I’d say, you’re all tiny walking skeleton peoples. I don’t get how some think you to be pets. Blackberries are so verbally demanding – like cats. I don’t trust cats, they are out to take over the world.”

Blue Bean blinked and then let out a full-belly laugh. This human woman was something else; talking about the Blackberries like they were evil cats – he totally agreed.

“Other than that, I didn’t feel the ‘spark’ with any of the Bitties.” ___ sighed again and turned her eyes towards Blue Bean. “Don’t get me wrong, little cutie, you’ve grown on me, probably because you’ve been soooo helpful. But I…”

“DON’T WORRY, MAIDEN, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND.” Blue Bean beamed his brightest smile at her, jumping up onto her lap and gave a reassuring pat on her arm. “IT’S UNDERSTANDABLE YOU’D BE CAUTIOUS IN CHOOSING YOUR FIRST EVER BITTY! IT’S BEST TO TAKE TIME WITH YOUR CHOICE UNLESS YOU IMMEDATELY FEEL THAT SPARK!”

“Heheheheh you’re a cutie-pie, Blue Bean.” She grinned and gently grasped him to squish him against her cheek in a bitty ‘hug’. “You’ve been so helpful, and so gosh darn cute!”

“NYEH-HAHAHAHA!” He felt his face flare up and KNEW he had his signature blue blush. She placed him on her shoulder and scooted back until her back was against the wall, turning her eyes away from him and to the Meet and Greet area.

“Was that all the Bitties wanting to do a meet and greet?”

Blue Bean paused and looked at the multitude of bones in the area.

“NO, STAY HERE, MAIDEN, I HAVE A FRIEND I WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE YOU TO!”


	3. Adopting 1

Quartz stood in front of the Crystal Goddess of his dreams, clenching his amethyst treasure very tightly to his sternum – both vibrating in overwhelming joy. Behind him, Blue Bean stood with a huge grin on his face, chuckling to himself as the human before them started to smile back. It was like seeing the sunrise for the first time. Quartz felt his tiny, tiny tears of joy trickle down his face-bones.

Time had flown since Quartz’s morning announcement to the rest of his pack – the feeling of impending adoption. After the first hour of his morning exercise-routine, Quartz had wandered off to the fish section again to bask in the glory of the glass blobs. Then, having snuck a few of said glass blobs; he ninja-ed his way to the back section of the store to talk with the Returnees. Having done his part to uplift the five Returnees’ spirits – with gifts of glass drops – he moved to the Lamia section to train with different Bitty-Bone sneks.

Then Blue Bean had shown up and hinted at wanting to introduce a human friend. Quartz gladly agreed, since he wanted to meet as many humans as possible today – the day he felt, deep down in his tiny cute bones he would have a new forever home. Following the guide Bitty to the Meet and Greet area, Quartz quickly took a perusing gaze to the tall, tall humans in the area. He dismissed the kids in the area, since they would never have had touched crystals; and turned his nose at their parents as well. Blue Bean just laughed as he dragged him to a human sitting against the wall and watching the other Bitties.

Quartz froze after his taller brother-bitty had literally shoved him mere inches in front of the Goddess. The smell of cold, beautiful crystals took his sense of smell hostage and if this was the end of all times, he would be in bliss forever more.

SHE sat, cross-legged, on the floor and was simply radiant. Her dark chocolate brown hair was pulled back into a bun, loose wisps sticking out in such a goddess-like fashion. The smile which sat on her plump lips was to die for. Quartz swore, just then, the sun-crystal came out and blessed her frame, making her glow.

“FAIR MAIDEN GODDESS OF BEAUTIFUL PRECIOUS JEWELS.” Embarrassment burned through his system as his mouth bumbled out the first words running through his brain. His eyelights stared into hers as she looked down, with a RADIANT smile, at him. Her eyes: Jewels of the Nile AND Amazon rivers, sparkled in the light, the lagoon green mixing with the silty brown and pulling him in deep. “MY NAME IS BLUE QUARTZ.”

~~~

Having watched Blue Bean scamper off to the orange and black cat employee, ___ smiled softly as she watched the cat-monster bend over and pick up the tiny bones, then the catty look of surprise when the bitty-skeleton pointed demandingly.

That had been five minutes ago, and now her guide was back, and dragging who appeared to be a shiny version of a Blueberry Bitty. ___ crossed her legs and leaned forward to get a better look. The two zeroed right for her and promptly came to a stop mere inches from her shoes. He was shorter than Blue Bean by an inch and clutched what looked to be a shard of purple something. The tiny bones looked like the other Blueberries; wearing grey pants, boots and shoulder pads over a white shirt; but a faded turquoise bandanna sat on around his tiny neck instead of the normal periwinkle blue.

She blinked once as the shorter bitty began shaking and hugging the purple shard tightly against him, and another blink as tears leaked from his eyes.

‘Great, I made a bitty cry just by being here.’ She thought instantaneously, beginning to frown.

“FAIR MAIDEN GODDESS OF BEAUTIFUL PRECIOUS JEWELS.” The Bitty squeaked.

Oh, oh ho! She completely misread his cues. He wasn’t terrified of her; this Blueberry Bitty was smitten to the marrow! She smiled and saw his face light up in the prettiest pale teal.

“MY NAME IS BLUE QUARTZ.” His eyelights locked onto her eyes.

“Well, hullo there, Blue Quartz.” She lowered her hand and extended her pointer finger to offer a connection to the tiny, five-inch tall skeleton. “I’m ____.”

“SUCH A BEAUTIFUL NAME FOR A RARE GODDESS!” Quartz huffed reverently, making her laugh. The Bitty stumbled back, adoration of her laughter clearly on his tiny teal blush-stained face.

“Naw, I’m no goddess, but thanks for the compliment.” She felt her cheeks stretch in a grin. This little bitty was totally adorable. “Why do you think I’m a goddess?”

“BECAUSE…YOU SMELL LIKE CRYSTALS, FAIR GODDESS.”

“I…smell like crystals?”

“YES, YOU DO. YOU’RE SIMPLY BLESSED WITH SO MANY CRYSTALLINE SCENTS AND AROMAS!”

Blinking and tilting her head in curiosity, she smirked as Quartz stood back up and slowly, slowly, stepped over to carefully lay his tiny bone phalanges on her pointer finger.

“SIMPLY DIVINE AROMAS!” Quartz leaned forward and mooshed his face against her fingers. “YES, THERE IS NO DENYING YOU ARE A GODDESS OF CRYSTALS AND MUST BE WORSHIPED AS SUCH!”

“Whoa there little dude, I…uh…” ___ was at a loss of what to say and looked quickly at Blue Bean – with a HELP-ME look on her face.

“NYEHEHEHEHE! FEAR NOT, MISS, QUARTZ IS JUST SO HAPPY WITH FINDING A HUMAN WHO LOVES CRYSTALS JUST AS MUCH AS HE DOES!”

“Is that so?” She chuckled. “So you’re wild about crystals and sparklies, eh?”

“YES, VERY MUCH SO!” Quartz lifted his precious amethyst shard up to show her. “THIS IS MY CRYSTAL, MAMA JAZZ SAYS IT’S CALLED AMETHYST!”

Grinning, and reaching up to her shirt-neck, she pulled out her pendant and watched as Quartz’s eyelights grow wide and the shard of purple drop from his fingers. Her pendant wasn’t much – the nearly-an-inch amazonite pi-stone was bought online and strung on a turquoise ribbon. She liked ribbons over metal because ribbons weren’t cold against the skin. Stones were cold at first, but her skin warmed them up quickly, and kept them warm.

“NYAH!” Quartz began shaking again and lifted his arms up to make – embarrassingly enough – immature gimme grabby motions. He knew his eyelights were crystal-hearts now, as his magic buzzed through his tiny system in ramping excitement.

“Hehehehe, you like Amazonite too, huh?” the goddess before him asked and he could only nod as she shifted to remove the precious treasure from around her neck.

SHE WAS LETTING HIM – BLESSING HIM – ENOUGH TO LET HIM HOLD HER CRYSTAL PENDANT!

By now, during the minute it took for Quartz to introduce himself to his Goddess, the rest of his tiny skeleton pack had returned to watch the scene unfold. They began whispering, excitedly, to themselves.

“BLESS YOU, SWEET GODDESS!” Quartz’s tiny, gloved phalanges reverently took hold of the beautiful sea-green donut stone and held it to his face, letting his nose hole widen to take in the aroma of this ‘Amazonite’.

He couldn’t stand still any longer and lost himself; thrusting his tiny bone face forward and began rubbing it all over the Amazonite donut. He twirled and hopped around, not caring AT ALL as the ribbon curled and twisted around his frame. Tripping, finally, as the ribbon entrapped him fully, Quartz only laughed gleefully, continuing to rub this Goddess-blessed gift all over his face and skull. Above him, his precious Goddess laughed mirthfully; joy and happiness saturated her divine voice.

“OMG! Geez, careful there, Quartz!” ___ felt surprised as the tiny skeleton carefully took hold of her pendant before going bonkers with it. She only laughed as he began rolling around on the carpeted floor, in what had to be an ecstatic state, rubbing at the amazonite like a cat on catnip.

She felt the spark of: OMG I HAVE TO HAVE THIS BITTY, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, FITE ME STUPID OTHER HUMANS, HE’S MINE NOW, SUCKAS! MWHAHAHAHAHAH!

In reality, her body was more relaxed and composed, as she leaned on her knees, cupping her chin in a hand, letting her mouth melt into a huge smile.

“Well now, thanks, Blue Bean. This little guy is totes going home with me!” Tiny cheers and congratulatory comments rang out from the Bitties who came over to watch. One tiny skeleton clapped Blue Bean on his shoulder, and the handsome bitty blushed in a fierce wave of proud of a job well done; while the others lifted Quartz up on their shoulders, smiles all around.

“YAY, A NEW HOME!” Blueberry 1 chirped.

“GOOD GOING, QUARTZ!” Blueberry 2 and Blue Bean laughed.

“ALRIGHT!” Blueberry 3 hoisted his bitty-brother high into the air.

“AWESOME, QUARTZ, FINALLY GOING HOME!” Blueberry 4 helped Blueberry 3 lift the manic stone-loving bitty high.

“Good job, Bro, playing bitty-match-maker!” AGAIN the weight of a pesky pest lazy-suave bitty fell on her shoulder, making her flinch and glare angrily at the tiny orange-clad arm that waved just inside her view.

“SHIT, you pile of sneaky-turd!” ___ hissed semi-heatedly. “Would you STOP doing that!”

“Nope.” Honey grinned as he leaned against her cheek. “It’s funny as hell.”

“BROTHER, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT SCARING THE HUMANS!” Blue Bean scowled at his tall younger brother, who only gave a shit-eating grin back.

“Mama Jazz is ready to talk to ya, Miss.” Honey patted her forehead. “About the Bitty you brought in.”

“Ah, is the little Trog awake?” She chuckled, having absent-mindedly started poking Quartz.

“Yup, and I think Mama wants you to talk to him.” Honey said further. “I’ll lead you to the room she’s got set up for y’all.”

“Alright-y then, let’s go see what the Trog has to say.” ___ looked at the cheer-pile of Blueberries and then asked: “May I have one Blue Quartz as an order-to-go?”

So sue her, her sense of humor was at high capacity, and by-golly she wasn’t going to tamp it down.

“YES MA’AM!” The Blueberries cheered and proceeded to march the two steps to her out-stretched hand and sacrificed Quartz to the fleshy-altar.

Quartz squealed in joy as he felt his Goddess’s hand close, caringly, around his ribbon-tied body and let himself be lifted to the heavens. This was it; he had found his Goddess and there was no going back. Bliss achieved.


	4. The Bite

The only highlight of his pathetic existence was his brother Blue Quartz, a Blueberry-edition weirdo who loved crystals and everything about the shiny rocks. Not that there was anything wrong with his brother, but Quartz had standards; standards that barred him from letting the pair be adopted together, as brothers should. He didn’t mind the first two times, saying goodbye to Quartz when humans filled out the paperwork which meant home.

But after the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth times he was returned, Rainbow Skittles stopped caring. Stop caring about mostly everything. He was a freak of nature; nobody wanted a Lil Bro Bitty with two spines – it just wasn’t right. Lil Bros should only have one spine, like ALL the other Bitties on the market.

No human wanted a tiny mutant skeleton companion, and Skittles should have been dusted before he left the hatchery.

Which brought him…he didn’t care to use any effort to recall the days he’d been in the cage in the back of Bitty-Topia. Rainbow Skittles had been returned the evening before and sure, the little girl who had given him his most recent name, was sad to see him go, but the parents had the ultimate say; and they didn’t want their precious little daughter to be made fun of because she had a freak bitty.

This morning, his brother had tried his best to draw a smile from his face, giving him yet another glass blob – that made six clear little glass factory rejects. How appropriate.

But nothing could really heal his tiny, shriveled soul and make him happy. He deserved to be torn apart, crushed, grinded and dusted, dumped in the trash so nobody had to look at his freak mutant spines.

~~~

Fred paced the length of the table several times; as Mama Jazz had called her flunky freak-tall Lil Bro skeleton to teleport to get the human who had brought him in half-hour ago. Sure he had energy to drain; having a good bath to clean what the fuck ever the druggo humans had done to him, but that didn’t mean he was nervous – not at all.

Not nervous at all – nope, never him.

“Fred, geez, dude, why you’re so sweaty.” The thunderously sweet voice of the idiot-rabbit, Mama Jazz, interrupted his pacing. “She’s not gonna hate you.”

“I ain’t Fred, ya’ moron! I hate that name.” He snarled, huffed – having caught on to his pacing – and plopped down to sit on the table. “I’m n’ nervous at all.”

After having whatever crumped-up, weed-plant the stupid druggo humans had shoved into his mouth run through his system and an impromptu bath, he chose a nice pair of black gym shorts and tiny red shirt. Tiny blue socks went on his bone feet while ratty old red sneakers covered those. He couldn’t choose a signature jacket, so he left that alone for now – if there was a chance the idiot human who brought him in was going to ‘adopt’ him, it would mean shopping for clothes.

Now, it was a matter of being ‘cute’ enough to convince the clueless human to take him home, where he could FINALLY have a drug-free place. He didn’t have to wait long, the door to the outside main floor opened and he felt his jaw-bone drop to the floor.

The human who walked in was NOTHING like he remembered while high; but he should’ve thought to not trust anything he saw when he was high. Nothing in the world made sense when drug-weeds ran the show.

First thing was her height, she was so MUCH shorter than he recalled – not even being five foot instead of the seven-foot-tall witch in the ten foot tall car. Secondly, her teeth were normal human teeth: flat, and a pleasant off-white. If they had been shiny white, THEN things would be sus. Damn drugs making everything look like it had fangs out to crunch his bitty-bones – he would NEVER watch beasts-go-crunch movies again.

Her eyes weren’t the flaming red and yellow witch-orbs from before, but he’d be damned if they didn’t cast a come-hither spell regardless. Those lagoon-green eyes could drown Bitties for days. Her face wasn’t much to stop and stare at, being round and average…until he allowed his eyelights to roam further down her body. Damn, she was a Cutie! Her body proportions were just right for him to snuggle against. The grey and black shirt she wore didn’t hide the fact she was, indeed, female. That small, plush chest of hers would be oh so squishy to sleep against. He felt his mouth twitch into a grin and his magic started to heat up, coating his cloth-covered bones in a warm blanket. She was the perfect scapegoat to sucker into taking him away from ever going back to the idiot humans who named him Fredrick. Oh, how he LOATHED that name.

Time to butter up his free-ride to a better place.

“Did it hurt when ya fell?” He stood up and spoke to the class A cutie in front of him, getting her attention.

~~~

Letting the neon color-wearing lazy skeleton lead her farther into the store to the smaller rooms, ___’s eyes kept switching between where she was going and the little giggle-bones cupped into her palms. Her face started to ache from all the smiling she was doing.

Quartz was squirming in her hands, still fawning over her amazonite pendant he held; happy as a pickled plum. The five-inch skeleton only protested once – after she stood up and took five steps – alerting her to not forget his own treasure which he had dropped on the floor. Honey had helped out big time, having teleported to get it and teleported back; this time NOT startling the ever-loving crap out of her.

So when she opened the door and saw the black rabbit, Miss Jazz, sitting there she didn’t think much of it. Until the little Troglodyte spoke up.

“Did it hurt when ya fell?” His voice sound ten times better, and had a husky undertone to it, even though it was still a bitty-voice.

“Uh what?” She blinked, her gaze zeroing in on the little gremlin. He stood on the table and was looking up at her with wide eyelights glowing a soft maroon, with little sparks of blue.

He cleaned up fairly nice, and now that he wore something other than the neon pink sock, ___ could see the clear evidence that he was an Edgy Bitty. The sharpie drawn-on pitch-black hole on his tiny skull was now a pale grey, sent relief through her – she was glad he wasn’t hurt like that. His tiny shark teeth, however, gleamed in the room’s light and made the grape-smashing skeleton look ferocious and so gosh darn adorable!

“Did it hurt when ya fell from heaven, Angel-cake?” The fierce looking bitty gave a smug grin.

…  
…  
…

Did he just use a pick-up line on her!?

“OMG!” ___ giggled and watched as the smug little Troglodyte stand up straighter, and his smug little grin grow just a tiny bit wider. His little skeleton face could be so expressive – and utterly adorable. “Do you say that to everyone you meet?”

“Eh, don’ know, Sweets, but I’m dead certain I’m th’ handsomest Bitty y’all eva meet.” He laid the charm on thick, riding his success at making her laugh.

“Weeeeell, I don’t about that, Fred.”

Fred’s POV:  
Another voice, lazy and drenched in amusement, interrupted his ‘private’ conversation and Fred felt his grin morph into a snarl. Mama Jazz’s annoying two-bit lazy waste of space Lil Bro waved from…HIS cutie’s shoulder – calling him by that horrid name.

“Fuck ya, ya empty bone-headed cuck.” Fred spat a drop of red-blue magic on the table. “Why don’ ya be a fuckin’ good pile of trash and dispose of fuckin’ ya-self.”

“LANGUAGE, PLEASE, DON’T USE SUCH UNCOUTH WORDS IN FRONT OF THE GODDESS!” Another voice piped up from her hands.

“WHAT THE HELL!?” Another annoying bitty to kick in the ass. Fred was surprised when THAT annoying Blueberry popped up from the Cutie’s hands, being tangled in a green ribbon.

“OH, ITS YOU, FREDRICK!” that annoying green-clad skeleton grinned at him and waved from the snug little nest of his human’s hand.

“DA FUQ!” the Edgy snarled and stomped on the table. This scenario wasn’t at all what he wanted; too many Bitties getting in the way.

“I believe Quartz asked not to curse in front of the ‘Goddess’.” The Lil Bro – Honey – smirked at him from his higher ground. “It’d make for a B A D T I M E.”

“Wanna say that again, ya fuckin’ trash bucket.” Fred felt his magic crackle and static around his left eye and hands. Shit was gonna go down if that bony waste of space didn’t get off HIS human.

“What’s the matter, Fredrick?” Honey asked the first half of whatever he was going to say.

Fred snapped.

~~~

____ walked in, expecting a nice little chat with a snarky, Edgy-type Bitty, hoping to persuade him to let her take him home – or at least drive him back to wherever his place was. What she wasn’t expecting was a full-blown, cat-hissing, fangs and claws bared brawl. A dick-measuring contest to see which of the two was more gangster. Did Bitties even have dicks?

Clearing her throat as she felt the rising tension, ___ snorted and shrugged her shoulder, wanting the instigator off of her. If the Troglodyte was going to attack, she really wanted her face to be left out of the line of fire. She felt another weight on her shoulder and blinked, as the Trog was no longer on the table. The hair on the back of her neck stood straight as a low, threatening growl was JUST NEXT TO HER EAR. It easily was terrifying enough to make her freeze. Who knew a tiny skeleton could growl that…like the hiss of the completely pissed-off.

Then, just was fast, the two Bitties were on the table; the lanky, nine-inch long Lil Bro being straddled by the red-shirted, five-inch long Edgy. Both were grappling with tiny phalanges, trying to push to see who the stronger skeleton was.

“FREDRICK, HONEY, STOP FIGHTING THIS INSTANT!” Quartz hopped down onto the table from her cupped hands and ran over to the fighting pair. “IT’S UNBECOMING OF YOURSELVES!”

She watched as her tiny turquoise-clad buddy rushed over to body-tackle…Fredrick?...only to have his foot get caught on Honey’s shorts and both he and Fred went rolling…rolling…rolling to the edge of the table.

OH SHIT, THEY WERE GOING TO ROLL OFF THE DAMN TABLE AND GET HURT!

She lurched into action and body-dove across the table, hand and fingers splayed out hoping to catch them before they fell off. She caught them, whew! before they fell…only to be bitten by a tiny set of sharp pointy teeth.

Jazz’s POV:  
Jazzereila wasn’t a monster of too much complexity; but living a life in captivity under a mountain for centuries, forged a monster into something other than fluffy bunny tails and rainbows. One certainly couldn’t be the slightest bit daft to survive, and Jazz learned very quickly to read and adapt to even the tiniest of body language – the better to turn and extradite one’s self from being dusted if need be. It was a rough life after all; one might even say…fell and edgy.

Since coming to the surface – being set free by a mere human child – Jazz’s ability of reading body language made deciphering situations like what was happening in front of her child’s play. The rabbit-fish opted to stay quiet as the door opened, and the female human who brought the hybrid Bitty in entered. She watched as ‘Fred’ stand up and drop a ridiculously cute one-liner as an introduction and the subsequent giggle from the female.

Then her bitty, Honey, had to go and open his mouth, antagonizing poor Fred, and instigating a fight. Jazz was slightly impressed that Blue Quartz had popped up from the female’s hands; the crystal-obsessed Bitty finally found his human. Fred started grappling with Honey causing Quartz to jump in to stop the fight. His actions sent them all rolling to the edge of the table. Jazz was about to intervene when the short female slid across the table to catch said falling bitties.

Fred’s POV:  
Fred knew he done fucked up. He lunged at the skeleton on his human’s shoulder, growled a warning and both ended up on the table, with him on top trying to over-power the taller skeleton companion, grappling. Next moment, the annoying goodie-goodie bitty jumped into the fight and body-slammed him. The action sent them rolling to the end of the table and a blur of motion sent his human sliding across to catch them. She didn’t know it wouldn’t have hurt either of them falling from that height, but Fred was stunned when hands curled around him just centimeters from the edge. He reacted at the sudden cage of fingers and opened his toothy maw to bite down.

~~~

“MOTHER-F*CKING PISS MONKIES!” ___ snapped and the two Bitties froze in her hands, before turning their eyelights to her. Her face was scrunched in shock. Tears quickly formed in her eyes as she bit her lip to keep from obviously crying. Just as fast as the pain came, it went.

“ARE YOU OK, GODDESS!?” Quartz was first to move and frantically looked everywhere to see what had hurt his precious Crystal Goddess. His teal eyelights looked down and saw Fred…with his teeth sunk into the juncture of her thumb and pointer finger. The Edgy Bitty had the decency to look guilty.

“Shit, that hurts!” ___ hissed and moved herself off the table. The Trog unlatched his jaws from her hand and huddled into a ball in the middle of the table. “Startled the crap outta me, geez.”

“So sorry about that, girly.” A sigh from Mama Jazz broke the tension as she turned to get the first-aid kit.

“Ahh… its ok…I’m glad the two of you are ok.” She said before inspecting the shallow bite. Using her good hand, she tapped Quartz on the head lightly. “Quartz! Don’t dive off of tables, you could’ve broken your bones or something.” 

“I’M SORRY, CRYSTAL GODDESS.” Quartz bashfully looked at the table and drooped his shoulders; but perked up. “NYAH! BUT WORRY NOT, FAIR GODDESS, FOR I AM MUCH MORE DURABLE THAN YOU THINK I WOULD BE FOR BEING SO SMALL!”

“Is that so, Quartz? Well, kudos to not yeeting yourself off the table and getting hurt.”

Grinning and turning to take the first-aid kit from the rabbit-fish monster, Quartz ran over to use the bandages to heal his goddess’s precious crystal-blessed hand.

“I’m truly sorry for Fred biting you that hard.” Jazz spoke up, after having given a stern lecture to her companion Bitty, Honey. “Edgy types are prone to bite when stressed, in the heat of the moment or wanting attention.”

“Iszat so?” Her eyes went to the bitty currently ball-curled on the table. “So, he’s an Edgy?”

“Half…half an Edgy and half a Blueberry.” Jazz specified. “He’s a rescue from a specialty breeder…who had little experience. His type is called Redberry.”

“Really? Bitties can have…babies? Like that?” She asked the rabbit.

“Yup.”

“Huh, learn something new every day.” ___ murmured to herself. “Thank you, Quartz, for wrapping my hand!” She looked at her hand, which was on the table so her little crystal buddy could apply the cleaning and bandaging. Quartz bounced with happiness under the praise, his eyelights little hearts. ___ turned to look at the huddled ball of bones on the table.

“Hey. Fred was it?”

“Hate that name…” the Bitty growled back and rotate-scooted so his back was towards her. “Fuckin’ hate it.”

“Oooookay…Trog?” She tried again. The Redberry lifted an arm and promptly flipped her a tiny bony bird.

“Well anyway, I’m sorry for grabbing you like that. I’m not mad you bit me; just warn a chick before you spike-trap that mouth of yours, kay?”

He didn’t reply.

“Ok then, well. Um. I guess I’m ready to do whatever to take Quartz home, Miss Jazz!”

“Alright.” The rabbit-fish monster paused before standing up and opening the door to the larger store.

~~~

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!

Fred KNEW he wasn’t going to go home with the cutie who rescued him from sliding head first off the table when he heard her stand up and walk to the door. Pure panic raced through his system, replacing the guilt and anger at having bit her.

“OHANA!” His brain fritzed and he blurted the first damn thing that came to his mind. His human froze half-way out the door and stood ice-still. “OHANA!”

“Ohana means family…” the Cutie firmly stated.

“…nobody gets left behind.” He didn’t know when the thick, thick tears of relief started pouring down his face. But Fred managed to stand up from his ball of huddle anyway and faced her. “Ohana means family; nobody gets left behind.”

His Cutie turned, and it was like a dam bursting – her demeanor changed from night-to-day as she dove for him.

“Oh. My. God. You are SO DAMN CUTE!” her voice was saturated with amusement and nearly made him melt with the amount of love pouring from her soul just then. “Ima name you STITCH!”

He simply shook in joy as her hands were once again curling around him. Being half-blinded with tears, Stitch reached out and fiercely hugged whatever his Bitty arms wrapped around. He FINALLY had a damn decent name that felt so RIGHT in his tiny soul!

Stitch.


	5. Adopting 3

“Stitch. OMG! You are so cute!” ___ continued to gush over the Redberry bitty. “Of all the things to say, you HAD to be so completely random and shoot a line straight through my heart!”

Squishing Quartz to her left cheek and Stitch to her right, ____ squee-d in adorable-overload. Behind her, she heard Jazz just chuckle and gently close the door.

“Well now, that’s absolutely insanely adorable.” Jazz mused to her shoulder buddy, Honey. The tall Lil Bro just clenched his teeth together and harrumphed.

“If you ask me, Mama, the poor girl doesn’t need a biter.” Honey responded sourly. He didn’t like the fact someone as innocent as Blue Quartz was going to have that foul-mouthed, drug-addicted waste of magic dust as a brother. Talk about bone-melting corruption. Which made him grin again as a thought popped into his tiny head. “Don’t let her leave, mama. We can give three Bitties a good home and keep that shit-eater out of trouble.”

“Honey…no…don’t-” Jazz said before Honey was gone. Sighing and pinching the furry area above her V-shaped nose slits, she quickly got three adoption sheets for the short female to fill out. It was going to be a long hour. Oy Vey.

~~~

Stitch quickly used his arm to rub away his red-blue tears and slipped into his tough-guy mask before pushing away from his Cutie’s cheek.

“Eh, dat’s nuff!” He grumbled and blipped a hand’s span away from the human. “I ain’t no fluffy teddy bear t’ hug on!”

“Awh, but Fr-…Stitch, you’re just so darn adorable!”

Stitch had stepped up, quick as a light-particle to have his pointy teeth hover over her fingers as he heard the FR sound slip past her adorable lips. But he caught himself as she corrected the name-slip and cautiously looked up to her eyes – all while his mouth was centimeters away from her skin.

“Uh…you…gonna bite me again, aren’t you?” A fair question. Stitch made a decision and nommed her finger, chewing gently like it was a rubber ball – not breaking the skin, but applying gentle pressure. The giggles he drew from her made his mouth split into a smile and he continued.

“Stitch…—hhannnrrrhkkk.” Her voice made a funny noise as his pointy teeth poked her skin. “OW, you have puppy teeth…tickle-hurts…OW!”

“STITCH, WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU BITING GODDESS AGAIN?!” Quartz finally managed to wiggle out of her other hand and marched up to the Redberry.

“Go ‘way, pipsqueak.” He grumped and stepped back, glaring at the little baby-bones. “Dis don’ concern ya.”

“Stitch, be nice to Quartz.”

“WHY!?” The Redberry whined. “He’s such a baby-bones, ain’t even been outa th’ damn store yet.”

“STITCH, NO CURSING!” Quartz spoke to him.

“Fuck-o-wisps.” He soured and plopped on the table, sat cross-legged and turned his back to his Cutie-human. Why did annoying, cute Blueberries always have to get in his business?

He felt a finger start petting his head and he grumped more, using his phalanges to smack said finger away. “Go ‘way.”

“Nope.” Her finger came back to pet his head and again, he smacked it away, butt-scooting away from the pets.

“I’m tough an’ I bite, don’ mess wi’ me, darlin’.”

“Uh-huh, I’m sure.” Again, her finger pet his head and he growled half-heartedly, butt-scooting away before her hand hooked around his waist and dragged him gently back. Stitch sputtered and blipped away from her hook fingers. A pause, before her hand hooked out and dragged him back.

“TH’ HELL, WOMAN!” Stitch fake-fumed, feeling a bout of playfulness begin growing in his bones. Damn his Blueberry half; not letting him be true to his edgier, snarkier side. “LEAVE ME ‘LONE!”

~~~

Skittles was just lying on the Bitty-cushion and lethargically picking at his lunch. Mama Jazz had come in and given him a small plate of three green-peas, a teaspoon of mashed potatoes and slice of deli meat. He really didn’t care much as he was still chewing the second pea. Nothing meant diddly squat when nobody cared. Today was just like last night, and most likely going to be the same tomorrow: boring, life-sucking depression. So it was startling when another Lil Bro blipped into his crate.

“Yo, Skits.” It was Honey, the super tall Lil Bro bitty of the black rabbit monster, Mama Jazz.

“Hi.” Skittles replied morosely.

“Uh, how’s lunch?” the up-beat and LOVED companion skeleton had the compassion to ask.

“It’ll probably turn into dinner at this rate.” Skittles looked up from green-pea in his hand. “Uh, nice shorts?”

“Thanks.” Honey scratched the back of his skull. “Um, look. I know this is going sound cliché, but I may have found you a forever home.”

“Heh, that’s funny.”

“It’s not supposed to be funny, Skits.” Honey started looking nervous. What was it about this depressed Lil Bro that made him so damn nervous? “Well, uhm, your brother…is getting adopted, along with that shit-weasel, the Redberry.”

Skittles’ only reaction was a lifted bony brow.

“And…I didn’t want Quartz to be alone with the shit-pile and thought…maybe the woman could be wrangled into adopting you too. I mean if she’s going to adopt your brother…”

“She’d take pity on me and scoop me up too.” Skittles sighed and sat up. “Alright, let’s go see where this shit-show takes me.”

~~~

___ was balancing between hugging a wiggly, happy Quartz with one hand and filling out paperwork with the other – and brushing away a VERY mischievous snot-ball with both hands.

“Stitch, I swear to god, if you take the pen again, I’m putting Princess Poopy Pants as your adoption name.” For the fifth blasted time, the newest addition to her family was being a COMPLETE and utter Troglodyte. A low giggle entered her left ear.

“Ok, Angel-cake, I’ll stop.” A skeletal digit poked her puffy cheek. “But dun go tellin’ me ya dun finding me amusin’. Sweet-cheeks.”

“GAAAA!” She muttered. The Redberry Bitty was completely insufferable. It had not even been two minutes and he had gotten under her skin with his hilarious antics and light flirting. “Stitch, ok, I get it, you’re a comedian. You make me laugh. Ha. Ha. Happy now?”

“Yup!” Stitch grinned and blipped to the top of her head, steadying himself with a strand of her gorgeous, dark brown hair. “Ya gave me what I wanted, and yer smilin’.”

“I’M TRYING TO ADOPT YOUR BONY ASS, FUNNY-BOI!” ___ shrieked and huffed. She felt him pat-pat the top of her head.

“Ya mean mah sexy bony ass?” She felt him wiggle his said bony ass on her head.

“HAY!”

“STITCH, WOULD YOU STOP BEING A DISTRACTION!” Quartz finally interrupted and glared at the red-blue bitty in overbearing compassion.

“Yea, yea, I get it, ya lil’ Blue-Bones.” Stitch stuck his little red-blue tongue out at the crystal-loving bitty.

___ sighing and feeling her face hurt from smiling – again – too wide, she focused on the papers in front of her. Jazz had given her three forms to fill out… Wait what!?

She felt Stitch tense up from on her head and suddenly Honey and another lanky bitty skeleton were standing on the paper she was just filling out.

“Uh. Hi?”

“BROTHER!” Quartz shouted in joy and pulled away from her hand, rushing to hug the grey-clad Lil Bro.

“Hey Quartz.” The lack of emotion from the Lil Bro made her blink, and then lean forward.

The tiny skeleton who stood in front of her was obviously taller than Quartz, probably by an inch or inch-half – although it was hard to tell because he was slouched. He didn’t look as tall as the Lil Bros she saw in the cubbies up front; drooping as though a heavy weight pushed him down. The Bitty wore a grey-hoodie and grey sweatpants that looked more at home on a hobo than a Lil Bro Bitty. The little skull was slender; narrower than Honey’s, and his eyelights were droopy, and dim. His bones were a dull white-grey, like he was rolling around in fire-place soot.

“Uh, Quartz…you…didn’t tell me you have a brother.” ___ furrowed her brows in concern. “Which now that I think about it, it makes sense?”

“Awh, Wallflower…” Stitch’s voice sounded sorrowful and sad, and the weight on her head vanished as Stitch reappeared next to the slouchy Lil Bro. “Why ya back here, Bro? I though fer sure that lil’ girly would keep ya glue to ‘er hip.”

“Yea, well, the good ole’ parents didn’t want a freak mutant Bitty, Slash.” The soft, pained voice of the grey tiny skeleton yanked her heart strings.

“Ah…” Stitch paused and cleared his throat. “Th’ name’s Stitch now. Angel-cake ‘ere gave it t’ me.” He flicked a thumb phalange over his back towards her. ___ watched the exchange very closely. Within the – what was it now? an hour, two hours? – time she knew Stitch, this behavior he was showing was unusual.

“Stitch?”

“Yea, Idjit?” he turned towards her.

“You know this Lil Bro?”

“Yea, darlin’…he’s…a good Bitty; a real good Bitty.” The Redberry stood there in his black and red clothes, with his hands jammed in the pockets, looking down at the table’s surface.

“Quartz?”

“YES, GODDESS!”

“Is…this Lil Bro your brother?”

“YES HE IS, GODDESS!” Quartz proceeded to squeeze-hug the grey skeleton and lifted him up in a bear hug. “WE CAME FROM THE SAME HATCHERY AND ARRIVED, TOGETHER, HERE AT BITTY-TOPIA WITH MAMA JAZZ!”

“Hm-hm.” ____’s brow lifted as the rabbit-monster finally came back into the room after excusing herself to pick up information packets for new Bitty-adopters.

“Oh, my…Skittles.” The black-rabbit dropped the papers and scooped up both Quartz and Skittles.

“Are you ok, my dear little bubble?” the rabbit’s nose wriggled as she brought both to her face. “I tried to stop Honey from bothering you, my dear little Bubble, but he got an idea.”

_______ looked super lost at the interactions between the three Bitties. She hoped she was reading the scene right, and that both Stitch and Quartz knew the grey Lil Bro with how they were reacting. But it was obvious she was clueless as to just what EXACTLY was going on.

“Uh, Miss Jazz, I have…questions?”

“Oh, Miss, I’m so sorry for this.” The black-furred rabbit sighed and sat back down, still holding the brother bitties in her hands. “Yes, this Lil Bro is Quartz’s brother, and I’m sorry for not bringing it up earlier, but…”

“What mama Jazz is trying to say, lady, is that I’m a freak mutant Bitty that nobody wants.” The grey skeleton monotone-d from the rabbit’s hand.

“Uh, you look normal to me. Unless it’s your grey color. Nothing wrong with being another color.”

The room paused with silence as seconds ticked by without anyone – human, monster or bitty – saying anything. Stitch stood quietly on the table, scuffing his ratty red shoes on the plastic.

“…Wallflower…has been returned several times, Angel-cake.” Stitch broke the silence, looking up into her eyes with his heterochromia eyelights. “Normally, when a Bitty gets returned that much…it ain’t good for ‘em.” He tapped his skull. “They get real sad and begin t’…fall…lose the will t’ live.”

“Oh…that’s…terrible.” ___ inhaled at the rush of sadness as her brain processed what Stitch said. “I’m sorry people are like that…but…I…don’t see anything wrong with…Wallflower?”

“Rainbow Skittles.” The grey Lil Bro corrected her with an emotionless voice.

“Rainbow Skittles.”

“RAINBOW SKITTLES!”

Jazz huffed and lowered her slender arms to place both Quartz and Skittles on the table. “I do apologize again, Miss; but Skittles…isn’t…ready to be adopted yet.”

“MAMA JAZZ!” Quartz finally let Skittles go and moved his phalange to clasp his brother’s limp hand. “YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT SKITTLES ANYMORE!”

“Oh, Quartz, baby, I know he’s your brother, but; he’s been through some rough times.” Jazz wiggled her nose in high-emotion.

“IT’S OK, MAMA JAZZ! THE GODDESS WILL TAKE CARE OF US BOTH!” the turquoise-clad skeleton puffed out his chest and held out the amazonite stone – which he had artfully lassoed around his frame to wear it like a badge of honor. “SHE WILL COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND IF YOU JUST TELL HER, BROTHER!”

“I don’t know, Bro, what if she doesn’t want a freak like me?” the morose voice of the droopy skeleton sounded low.

“Ok, stop right there; little dude.” If there were any more vibes of sadness, then she would certainly start to cry. “Why are you saying you’re a freak? Just because you’re a little grey around the gills, doesn’t make you a freak.”

The Lil Bro sighed sadly, and turned to Jazz, a silent conversation taking place between the eyes of the tiny bitty and the tall monster lapine-fish.

“Go ahead, Skittles, its ok to show her.” Jazz’s voice was calm, caring and soft in its reassurance.

Sighing resignedly, Skittles turned around and reached down to grasp the bottom of his grey hoodie and drew it over his head and tossed it to the table. There he stood, top-half naked and sighed sadly. It took a few seconds before ___ saw what exactly was different. Normally human skeletons had one spine – sometimes straight, sometimes scoliosis – but Skittles had two spines, like a set of tiny parallel lines. Tiny Bitty skeletons were already slightly different from the normal human skeleton, the magic which comprised of their very being allowing the solid bones to become expressive and had more volume – marking them monster skeletons.

The duel spines started at the base of his skull, touching like pencil tips before parting slightly to have a tiny gap between; and ran down the length of his back to end in two tiny coccyx-tails. In between the two spines were tiny, tiny little dots of white bone, like a connection of sorts. Moving her face back to look at Skittles as a whole, she saw now that he was wider than normal; almost like having a barrel chest.

“Wow, that’s…interesting…” ___ said sincerely before reaching out to gently touch the bitty. “Does it hurt?”

Skittles turned around to actually get a good read on her face – to see if it matched the tone of her voice. He stumbled back as the curiosity radiated from her face.

“No…but it makes it hard to sit normally.” Skittles blinked twice, and brought a hand to curl around his sternum, feeling a very tiny, tiny something twinge in his soul. “But I don’t sit that much anyway. I lie down.”

“NYAH! YES, MY BROTHER IS SUPER LAZY, AND EVEN THOUGH HE HAD TWO SPINES, IT’S LIKE IT GIVES HIM TWICE THE LAZINESS!” Quartz stated and reached over to grab the grey hoodie to hand back to Skittles. “YOU SHOULD SEE HIM IN A LAZY CONTEST, HE WOULD OUT-LAZY ALL THE OTHER LIL BROS IN THE STORE!”

____ bit her lip to keep her smile contained. It was a serious moment after all, having such a sad little Bitty be exposed like that. “I…see. Well, I hope Skittles isn’t TOO lazy enough to allow me to take him home?”

“What?” Skittles blinked owlishly.

“I mean…” she glanced once at Stitch, who was watching them with shimmering, hopeful eyelights. “The Ohana card HAS been pulled; and Ohana means family…”

“Nobody gets left behind.” Stitch whooped and stood proudly. “Awh, Angel-cake, ya sum’em else!”

“Thanks, Stitch.”

“NYAH! I TOLD YOU BROTHER; THE GODDESS WILL TAKE CARE OF US! NO MORE HAVING TO BE SAD AND LAZY.” Quartz beamed as he jammed the hoodie back on his younger brother – who was standing there looking lost and confused.

“You……wanna take me home?”

“Yup.” ___ nodded and reached over for one of the three forums Jazz had given her. “Wanna help me fill the paper out?”

~~~

Skittles couldn’t believe it! This lady in front of him STILL wanted to take him home after seeing his freak double spines. He was expecting disgust or pity from her, but the raging, kind-curiosity coming from her soul nearly bowled him over like a blast of heat. He didn’t know what to think…or feel…about the situation. Nothing was going how his little depressed mind thought it would go. For one, his brother was getting adopted for the first time since they got here. Secondly, the hybrid Redberry – Stitch – was also getting adopted by the same lady who chose his brother. So Weird. Thirdly, the lady didn’t even blink in any sort of negative emotions after seeing his mutation.

Today wasn’t anything he expected.

“Hey, Skittles?” the lady’s voice caught his attention.

“Yes?”

“What do you want me to write as your name?”

“Rainbow Skittles?” He posed it as a question before giving up on standing on the table and moving his bitty-bones to drape himself on her arm. “If that’s ok with you.”

“OF COURSE, BROTHER! RAINBOW SKITTLES IS A GREAT NAME FOR YOU! NYAH!” His shorter older brother piped in with a jovial laugh. Skittles rolled his eyes and felt a tiny smile quiver on his bony face.

“Ok, Rainbow Skittles it is.”

“Eh, I would’a name ya Sleepy-head.” A quip from the hybrid Stitch made Skittles lift his head to meet the bi-colored eyes belonging to his arm neighbor. The little snot was TRYING to get a rise from him by mimicking his movements, Skittles only grunted and flopped his head back down.

“STITCH, THAT’S NOT VERY NICE.”

~~~

Jazz watched quietly as the three Bitties sorted themselves out and the short female in front of her begin to fill out the forms for the three bitties. A smile crept to her lips as the lapine monster instinctively knew these three were going to a good home. One that – barring a freak accident – would be forever.

“Ya did ok, Honey.” She whispered to her shoulder companion. “Took a risk, and it paid off.”

“I know, mama, I know.”

Stitch

Blue Quartz

Rainbow Skittles.


	6. Shopping for Clothes

Stitch the Troglodyte; her little red-blue imp with a razor-sharp snarky attitude, a flirtatious streak a mile-wide and a hidden pinch of caring.

Blue Quartz; her crazy, crystal-loving bubble-angel who couldn’t help but make her smile with his adorable giggling and laughter.

Rainbow Skittles; the little grey buddle of sleepy sadness. ___ couldn’t help but hold him in her hands as both her shoulders were occupied by bitties already: the snarky maroon imp on her left, and the bubbly aqua angel on her right. She had spent five minutes filling out the forms to adopt the three tiny skeletons. (In hindsight, she should have known they actually adopted her.)

“So…my little giggle bones…I’m guessing…the next step is clothes shopping?” ____ spoke slowly – but not that slow – as she thought-processed just what to do next. “I mean I’ve never had bitties; let alone three at once.”

“Of course it is, Idjit.” Stitch chuckled from her left. “Unless ya a freak and wanna have three nakey bones runnin’ ‘round yer home.”

Sighing, she reached up and poked Stitch, earning her a swat to said finger. “No, I’m not a freak, you Trog. Heaven forbid, I’m that horrible at bitty-care and leave you with nothing to wear.”

“FEAR NOT, GODDESS, WE DON’T NEED THAT MUCH.” Quartz patted her right cheek. “I CERTAINLY DON’T NEED ANYMORE THAN, SAY, THREE PAIRS OF BITTY CLOTHES.”

“Eh, anything is fine with me, lady.” Skittles still looked so sad, and now shell-shocked; as if he didn’t believe he was being held by warm, caring hands. “Mama Jazz had to fix these clothes up cuz I didn’t have anything else to wear.”

“Well! That settles it then! I’m going to dress you up in rainbow colors, Mister Skittles!” ___ beamed brightly. Two out of her three bitties groaned - it was hard to tell which two – but it didn’t matter!

“Ok, first…so what; three pairs of clothes each?” She smirked. “Ok, Stitch, what would you like?”

“Eh, dun worry ‘bout it, Idjit.” Her little skeletal comedian spoke. “Give me ten minutes and meet cha at th’ front counter. I know m’ way ‘round th’ store, so I can pick things out faster.”

Without letting her reply, Stitch’s weight left her shoulder. She snorted a laugh; he was such a Trog ( ~~independent~~ ) little snot. Now that left her with two little bitties. Looking up to the ceiling to find a familiar point of origin, ___ nodded when her eyes caught the sign: CLOTHING.

“GODDESS, I CAN HELP YOU CHOOSE CLOTHING FOR ME AND MY BROTHER.” Quartz’s energetic and cheerful voice cut through her train of thought.

“Oh yea, which reminds me, Quartz, you ever going to give me back my pendant?”

“!” Quartz surprised her when he jumped off her shoulder onto the nearby shelf. THIS made her halt in her tracks and blink. The turquoise-clad little skeleton stood there, clutching the amazonite pie stone to his chest and looked at her; his eyelights started becoming more and more shimmery. Was…was he pulling puppy-dog eyes at her?!

“Uh, Quartz, are you ok?”

“I…DO I REALLY HAVE TO GIVE IT BACK, DEAR GODDESS?” Now his voice was wavy, like he was about to cry.

“Uuhhhhhh…no?”

“YAY!” his demeanor changed back to his happy little self in an instant. Ooohhh boy, she had SO much to learn about her little companions - given how it was very possible that Quartz had just played her like a fiddle. Weren’t Blueberries supposed to be innocent and charming?

~~~

Stitch blipped off his Cutie’s shoulder to the back of the store for some alone time – to collect his thoughts. He felt his little soul tremble to think of how Wallflower…no, Skittles, had been in the shop. The poor Lil Bro didn’t deserve to be returned like a delinquent Edgy or an over-demanding Blackberry. Skittles just didn’t. Humans were all sorts of fucked up when it came to social standing – just couldn’t look past something different and into the sweet, caring soul within.

*****

_Fred sat in the stupid, stupid crate and focused on dragging his claws along the plastic walls of his prison. Over and over; until there were four satisfying gouges on the wall. He knew EXACTLY how he ended up here. He chose to terrorize the neighbor’s yippy-yappy rat of a dog by throwing grapes at the window. That action then led to him B &E-ing via the doggie door to the woman’s kitchen to wreak havoc by shredding the bag of dog food and throw-launching it EVERYWHERE. He laughed himself stupid as the dumb-ass dog went to town chowing down on any and all doggie kibbles on the floor._

_He didn’t put up much of a fight when the dumb dog’s owner found him at the scene of the crime. She reacted accordingly and shrieked bloody murder before trapping him in a plastic Tupperware container. He was still giggling when the dumb lady called the closest Bitty center: Bitty-Topia._

_Which why he was here now; in a crate in the back of Bitty-Topia – waiting for his fucking stupid drug-addicted humans to come down from whatever high they chose for the day. (yesterday it was Peyote, and the day before that was paint fumes). Waiting to be reclaimed, taken home and start the cycle of bad choices again – lather, rinse, repeat._

_“Waiting to be adopted again too?” a lack-luster voice cut through the room’s quiet ambiance._

_Fred shifted and looked out the crate’s open-bar front to meet eyes with a dumpy looking Lil Bro. The Bitty didn’t look so hot – his eyelights dim and droopy._

_“Fuck-jelly, did somebody throw ya in the washer bleach cycle?” He quipped – not feeling up to being friendly._

_“No, I’m waiting for Mama Jazz to set me out for adoption again.” The Lil Bro sighed sadly and leaned his head on his hand._

_He blinked and then really LOOKED at the bitty. The dude was two shades shy of dusting from sadness. The clothes he wore looked so grey and colorless. Lil Bros normally chose orange and khaki, as was their trademark colors. The normally off-white bones indicating a healthy bitty were grey and chalky, rasping ominously as the Lil Bro in the crate across from him shifted his position to fully horizontal._

_“Fuck-o-wisps, dude, what’s got ya so ready t’ dust?” He didn’t like the nagging feeling of wrongness that a Lil Bro was in such bad shape. Lil Bros were one of the four more popular types of Bitties; and rarely, if ever, were returned._

_“I’m a freak of nature.” Was the Bitty’s response._

_“Tch, I’m th’ freak o’ nature, Bro.” He snapped back. “I belong t’ a pair o’ fuckin’ druggo humans who drug me high t’ wreck shit up and laugh out their arses when it happens.”_

_“At least you have humans.”_

_He blipped out of his crate and into the Lil Bro’s, straddling him in anger, ready to smack a Bro around._

_“FUCKIN’ DRUGGO HUMANS WHO’D BE BETTER OFF ROTTIN’ IN TH’ TRASH!”_

_“Dude, chill out. I’m just saying you have humans.” The Lil Bro beneath him laid sprawled on the cushioned floor, not even putting up a fight. “Must be nice to have even shit humans come back to get you. It’s more than I ever had.”_

_“Tch.” Fred spat and moved off the slightly taller bitty. “I dun believe ya, yer a Lil Bro type, who in their right stupid human mind would get rid of ya?”_

_“It’s because I’m a freak of nature.” The Lil Bro rolled to the side and pulled the grey hoodie up to expose his backside. He clacked his teeth when he saw the double spines._

_“Ain’t that somethin’? Never seen a mutation like that. Does it hurt?”_

_“No, but it makes it very hard to sit normally.” The Lil Bro gave a single humph of laughter. “Lil Bros are prone to be lazy, right? My default setting is lying down.”_

_“Dun you have a Blueberry bro t’ keep ya from being too lazy?”_

_“Yes, but he refuses to be adopted by people who don’t like crystals.”_

_“What’s his name?”_

_“He named himself Blue Quartz.” The Lil Bro answered. “What’s your name?”_

_“M’name’s Slash, at least that’s what m’ Pa named me. Ma named me Lilo, no clue why. What’s yours?”_

_“I’m Wallflower…at least that’s what my first human named me.”_

_He sat quietly, processing the information._

_“Tell ya what, Wallflower, I’ll do ya a favor n’ hook ya up with a cute lil girly who’ll name ya somethin’ stupid like Princess Tinkerbell Glitterwing.”_

_“Is that a promise?”_

_The unspoken fact that Lil Bros, Sansys and Edgys never made promises lightly hung between the two Bitties._

_“Yea, it is.”_

_Fred spent the rest of that day dressing up Wallflower in decent Lil Bro clothes and used his street smarts to gussy-up a situation to have the mopey Bitty cozy up to a cute little kid of a girl. He felt proud as he and Wallflower exited Bitty-Topia at the same time – him with his rarely-sober humans and the cutie little three-person family whose cute little daughter was cooing over her new Rainbow Skittles._

*****

To find Wallflower/Skittles back in Bitty-Topia again made him sad, and he was grateful for that trash-bag Honey to pull a fast one and introduce the depressed Lil Bro to his Cutie. The kind-souled woman who FINALLY looked past the double-spines and adopted him anyway.

Sitting down and blinking as tiny tear drops landed on his feet, Stitch watched, then felt as his red-blue liquid magic roll out of his eye sockets. Why the fuck was HE crying again? Oh yea, because the same Cutie had shot an arrow straight through his tiny, pathetic soul. Bringing his hand up to curl tightly around his sternum, Stitch gave a choked laugh.

Soul mates. Fucking Soul Mates. He knew the second he laid teeth in her. (Her blood tasted ambrosial: sweet, tangy, metallic and like **Home**.)

Why did it have to be something so damn rare and impossible? Because he was born, and not factory-made, that’s why. Damn the idiot humans who ever got it in their heads to have his Edgy Pa and cherished Blueberry Ma mate. He was a freak against Bitties everywhere. Normal Edgys and Blueberries had brothers – it was just the natural way of things.

But not him; he was solo born and watched, dumb and too young to understand the world’s cruelty, as the drugged-out humans had dusted his sweet, innocent Ma. Damn, how he wanted to slit those drugged-out throats, and bathe himself in their tainted, sinners’ blood. Had his Pa not grown a spine and fled with him the minute after his Ma died, he most certainly would have done just that. Damn his Pa for not saving his Ma.

It had been nearly eleven months since that shit-show, and he really didn’t want to use any more energy trying to recall the memories he lost in his grief. The events he still could remember were those of his Pa giving him brutal, crash-course lessons in Life; teaching his son every street-smart thing Pa learned the hard way. How to use magic, differences of natural Bitties compared to the multitude of factory-made synthetic Bitties, Bitty types and how to tell them from afar, what to do if you were in danger of getting dusted, history of the monsters who had been held captive under a mountain for untold amounts of time, the traits and uses of a soul and how to read human souls if need be.

Now, one solid fact stood out in his mind: natural-born bitties had the chance of finding their soulmates, whereas synthetic Bitties could only have breeding-mates and mutual love, like the rest of humanity.

What a fucking joke; that Fate would fucking hurl him at his soulmate like a pebble in a whirlwind. He didn’t deserve her. She was so much more than he could ever hope to be; a human standing taller than he would ever. An angel without the fear of being dusted every day.

“Woof?” a low, gravely Bitty-voice interrupted his pity-party and Stitch whipped his head up to look at the source.

Sitting in a crate across from him was a monstrosity, and Stitch twitched in shock. It was a rare Pure-Bite Bitty. What the fuck was a high-end, highly dangerous Bitty Breed doing in a whimsical shop like Bitty-Topia?! Bitty-Topia was kid-friendly for fuck’s sake!

“Why cry?” the singular blood-ruby-red eyelight laser-focused on him, the black pupil thinning into a slit, like a dangerous cat. “Have home, right?”

Stitch shivered as something cold ran over his spine. Pure Bites were like the carnivorous Horror Bitties, with a shocking hole on their skulls and sharp, shredding teeth like piranhas. Horror Bitties were already to be pitied as they only came from Sansys who got grievous injuries from head trauma.

But Pure Bites were bred from something darker, more visceral – very dangerous. His Pa had taught him that if you ever saw a Pure Bite; run the other way and never look back. They loved to chase prey and were relentless in their need to fill their hunger for meat. They were also VERY hard to reason with; having such a head injury made for very dangerous mindsets.

But now he found himself smack dab in front of the taller Pure Bite – his first time seeing one up-close. If he had a bladder, Stitch just might have peed himself a little. He was about to cave into his instincts and blip to his human and teleport them both the fuck away, when an all-too-familiar scent reached his nose. Hers.

“Look for dis?” The Pure Bite grinned his jagged, Cheshire-wide grin and tugged a very familiar bucket hat from behind him. It was the hat his Cutie had brought him in.

“How in da hell ya get tha’, freak?” Stitch, once again, ran his mouth before his brain worked. He and his Cutie should be miles away by now. He was so fucking dead.

“It smell nice. Took it.” The low, predatorial voice answered. The scary Bitty brought the hat to his nose cavity and audibly sniffed it. “It smell gooooooood. Like outside and woman.”

“That ain’t yers, ya psycho, give it back!” He only thrust out his hand from where he stood, expecting the hat back – Stitch wasn’t insane enough to stick his arm in a Pure Bite’s cage. That was damn good way to lose said appendage, and then some – if he even survived.

“No. Mine.” The horror-freak in front of him gave a low, rumbling chuckle. “New nest.”

“Th’ fuck ever, ya freak-show. Go ‘head an’ have it.” He took a step back – like hell he would throw-down for dumb hat – not with a taller Pure Bite Bitty who would probably use his bones as toothpicks.

“Trade? Plez?” the Bitty in front of him did a full 180 and ACTUALLY STARTED WHINING LIKE A PUPPY! “For stickleaves…” the Bitty pointed to something behind him.

WHAT. THE. FUCKITY-FUCK!?

Stitch felt his mind trip up. He slowly turned around to see just what would send a Pure Bite whining like a puppy. On the counter was a wreath made of brown twigs, orange ribbons and fake craft-store leaves and pumpkins. Oh yea, it was a Halloween decoration, that season was right around the corner.

“So…ya would trade th’ hat…for th’ sticks n’ leaves?” Stitch stuttered out his words – still shocked he was even talking to the terror in front of him.

“Yes. Plez. Trade.” The Pure Bite began stuffing the hat through the crate bars. “Stickleaves. Plez?”

“Seriously?”

“PLEZ!” The Pure Bite rattled the cage.

The wrinkled hat was completely out of the crate now, and the only thing holding it was a very-much clawed hand of the scary Bitty. Its singular eyelight focused on him and wobbled, like the poor bitty was about to cry like a baby. The little thwip-thwip of the Pure Bite’s bony tail hitting the sides of the plastic crate sounded louder and louder.

“Ok, Ok, geez, dun get yer tail in a’ twist.” Stitch’s kind-Blueberry half surged to the front and he blipped over to the wreath, grabbing it with both hands and blipped back to the crate. Then, drag-rotating the round decoration between him and the Pure Bite, Stitch kicked it at the crate. He still must be high if this was really happening…REALLY high.

“There, traded.”

“!” the hat was tossed away as both the bitty’s hands shot out and grabbed the stick-wreath.

Stitch felt his bones shiver as the poor wreath was shredded within seconds and the twigs being drug into the crate and shoved into the Bitty’s razor-piranha mouth. The crunching made by the unfortunate twigs’ demise sent Stitch grabbing the damned hat and blipping the hell out of there.

“Bye, thanks trade.” Bitey waved at the empty spot where the other Bitty was and chewed ever-so-happily on the stickleaves - looking utterly confused when the black monster rabbit came in much, much later and started scolding him for making a huge mess of chewed and spat-out stickleaves, ribbons and wire.

~~~

___ stood at the front counter, glancing at her phone’s clock. It had been eleven minutes after Stitch had left her shoulder to shop for clothes. The Trog said he’d be back in ten. He was one minute late.

“GODDESS, I THINK HE MAY HAVE GOTTEN LOST?” Quartz spoke up from the surface next to her hand. “SHOULD WE GO LOOK FOR HIM?”

“Hhmm…maybe he had trouble picking out something?” She mused and scooped the items she had chosen to the side, so the person behind her could complete their purchase.

“Who knows, lady, maybe he got into trouble?” Skittles spoke from his new infinity-scarf hammock which was wrapped around her neck. The black cloth was fuzzy soft and had a pattern of white skull & cross bones – without any hint of pirate eye-patches. Quartz didn’t like that one at all.

“No, we would have heard something if that Trog decided to get into trouble.” ___ stated confidently. She had read through the Edgy-Bitty guide Jazz gave her and quickly learned the ‘who-what-whys’ of Edgys. Some of the behaviors matched Stitch to a T; like the biting and the tough-guy acts. Other factors came from the Blueberry guide; like those rare instances she saw back in the adoption room: full-hearted caring and compassionate. One thing was for sure; she truly didn’t know just how a Redberry’s personality worked.

“Speak of the devil and he appears.” Skittles’ voice broke into her thoughts and she felt him shift against her upper chest.

“STITCH, YOU ARE TWO MINUTES AND THIRTY SECONDS LATE!” Quartz chided. “ARE YOU OK?”

“Yea, dun worry ‘bout it, baby-blue.” The Trog was back.

“So nice of you to join us, Sir Stitch.” ___ smirked. “Didja find what you needed?”

“Shite-balls. Knew I was forgettin’ somethin’, darlin’.”

“STITCH! LANGUAGE! PLEASE DON’T USE SUCH BANAL WORDS IN FRONT OF THE GODDESS!”

“Oh Stitch…” She sighed and lowered herself to look him in his eyelights; both were red and shifty. “Stitch…if you need help, just ask, ok?” She petted his head with a finger.

“It ain’t that…I…got side-tracked.” The Redberry looked bashful and then turned his eyelights to her, giving her sad puppy-dog eyes. “Would cha forgive me, darlin, if I said I went lookin’ f’r yer hat?”

“Oh yea!” She stood up as she remembered her hat. “I did carry you in my hat. Did you find it?”

He pulled out her tan bucket hat from behind him ( ~~HOW IN THE HELL DID SHE NOT SEE THAT BEFORE!?!?!?!?!~~ ) It…the hat looked like it had been put through a paper-shredder and pulled out half-way.

“Uh…”

“I…had t’ trade ‘nother bitty somethin’ fer it…” Stitch scuffed his shoe on the counter, looking guilty as hell as he held out the ruined hat. “I guess he liked th’ way it smelled.”

“Ooooookay…well…uhm…that’s…wow.” She chuckled in awe. Whichever Bitty managed to have-at her hat like that wasn’t one she wanted to meet. “Don’t worry about the hat, Stitch, I’ll…just have to get a new one.” ( ~~It still hurt to have her trusty hat ruined like that, but it certainly wasn’t Stitch’s fault; right?~~ )

“It’s all good, Angel-cake I’ll jus’ keep this anyway.” Stitch folded the hat and placed it next to the pile of clothes she, Quartz and Skittles picked out. “What th’ fuck-o-wisps are those?!”

“Uh…Bitty clothes we picked out?”

The Redberry gasped, looked at the three of them and then the pile of cloths. “The fuck all th’ same!?”

“WHAT IS YOUR POINT, STITCH?” Quartz asked, as he hopped over to the other bitty.

“Mah poin’ is tha’ therz no way ‘n HELL I’m lettin’ ya dress in da same sets o’ clothes like a BABY-BONES!” Stitch slurred his words – he must be super angry.

To emphasize his point, the hybrid skeleton yanked the three nearly identical Blueberry suits from the pile. One set had a dark grey shirt, with green shoulder-cuffs and turquoise pants complete with blue boots. The second set was the same thing; only with a light grey t-shirt and grey cloth pauldrons and blue boots. The third set was a standard periwinkle blue, grey and white Blueberry bitty uniform.

“Oh, pray-tell, Sir Stitch, why is my selection wrong?” ___’s brow rose in amusement. “As you recall, I don’t see any of YOUR articles of clothing.”

“WHAT THE FUCK-O-WISPS ARE THESE HIDEOUS THINGS!?” Stitch ignored her and yanked out three horrendous onesies from the pile.

One was a pink bunny onesie, with floppy ears and puffy tail; the second one was a black-cat, complete with a wired-in tail and tiny whiskers; and the third was a green and blue dinosaur, with purple spines running down the back and ending at the lizard tail.

“GODDESS THOUGHT IT WOULD BE CUTE TO BUY US ALL A SET OF PAJAMAS.” Quartz grinned happily – ~~a little too happily~~ – at Stitch. “IF YOU WANT THE DINOSAUR, MY BROTHER WOULDN’T MIND SHARING. I CHOSE THE CAT!”

Stitch, red-faced, sputtered and made indecipherable growly noises for a good ten seconds, kicked all three sets of Blueberry clothes off the counter, shredded the pink bunny onesie, yeeted that in the trash before grabbing Quartz and blipping away.

~~~

“Still think he’s not gonna be trouble, Lady?” Skittles had watched the event from the safety of his soft scarf-hammock. The Edgy bitty’s behavior on the counter had left him feeling…light, like it supposed to be funny. Like he was supposed to laugh.

“I trust him, he took Quartz, and I doubt your…brother would let anything too outrageous happen.” The lady answered him. He looked up from the sanctuary of his hanging scarf-pouch. He couldn’t see her face much, but he sure felt her intent. From his position against her upper chest, her soul-vibrations were so, so warm.

Skittles still couldn’t believe he was with this curious woman. Honey did say his brother was getting adopting, that should have been the first green flag of joy – the second green flag of joy was when Honey had blipped him to an adoption room where his brother had joyfully – nearly - bear-hugged the marrow from his bones. The third green flag was when she asked him to help her fill out his adoption form – even after seeing his freak spines.

“So…” Her voice caught his attention. “What’s your story, Skittles? I remember Stitch saying you’re a real good Bitty. Do you two know each other?”

The lady picked up the pile of clothes off the floor and had moved to a nearby bench, most likely waiting for his brother and Stitch to return. She removed the scarf from around her neck – safely, so he didn’t drop out, thank god for the tiny tabs of Velcro which the infinity scarf had to turn it into a pouch – and now held him in her warm hands which rested on her lap. He must have dozed off temporarily because he didn’t remember being shifted around.

“Yea, I think we met yesterday morning in the back area where Mama Jazz keeps the Bitties who are hurt, sick, lost or returned.” Skittles gazed at her beautiful face.

Her nose was on the larger side and suited her rounded face nicely. It certainly didn’t look fake or touched by plastic surgery that he’d seen other women obsessed about. Her eyes were a coffee swirled with fern-green and dots of darker mud brown. They reminded him of a sun-dappled puddle or creek just settling from a tiny minnow’s swim-by; something from nature. Skittles KNEW her eye color couldn’t match her soul; her soul was something like patience or kindness - kindness at adopting his freak-mutant bones.

Her hair was messily pulled back in a neon-pink scrunchie, and wisps of that lovely dark-chocolate refused to adhere to the look she wanted – slicked back and shiny, like a sci-fi movie heroine. No, this style suited her much better; it was less severe and more endearing. If he wasn’t so bogged down by hopelessness, he might have taken up his life’s calling again and painted her face. The hair alone would have him using Caput-mortuums, taupe-browns, sepias, bistres and needle-fine silvers and smoky-white paints. Maybe if she truly made his deepest desire come true, he would ask to paint her portrait.

“Skittles?” the lady was petting his temple with her warm finger. “Earth to Skittles? You alright there little dude?”

“Huh? Oh, yea I was just…looking at your pretty face.”

Rainbow Skittles didn’t know where all this energy he was using to talk came from. He barely ate breakfast and Honey had interrupted his lunch; his HoPe was already dangerously low at being returned so damn quickly. His eyelights drooped…he was so tired and her warmth was washing over his bones like a safe haven. Couldn’t she put the scarf back around her neck so he could be closer to that heavenly font of her soul? He would pay anything in the world to see her soul and to have the other-worldly paints that would give him the magic to replicate it on canvas.

If only he was worthy of such a heavenly blessing…

“ZZZZZZZ…”

~~~

Having scooped up Stitch’s mess and finding a bench to sit, ___ carefully removed the scarf in which Skittles had snuggled in. She wanted to know more about this sudden, unexpected addition to her posse. The familiarity Stitch had with Skittles was curious, and ___ knew it would be a juicy story.

“So…” Her voice made him focus on her face. He looked half-asleep. “What’s your story, Skittles? Stitch seemed to know you somewhat. Have you two met before?”

“Yea, I think we met yesterday morning in the back area where Mama Jazz keeps the Bitties who are hurt, sick, lost or returned.” Was the only answer she got before his grey face zeroed in on hers and he completely zoned-out.

Stitch had mentioned something about Skittles having lost the will to live because he had been returned so many times. ___ didn’t know much about the obviously sentient Bitties, but even she knew that much rejection didn’t do ANYTHING living good, Bitties deserved love just as much as humans. Now that she had time to think about it, Skittles was most likely depressed – if the color and state of his grey bones was any indication. Yea, she felt for the Lil Bro; depression sucked dragon balls. Depression stemming from mental abuse wasn’t better or worse either. Snorting, and dragging her mind away from the dangerously dark edge of THAT hellhole, ___ shifted her hold on Skittles and cupped him just a little more firmly.

“Skittles?” She brushed her warm finger against his cute little skull. “Earth to Skittles? You alright there little dude?”

“Huh? Oh, yea I was just…looking at your pretty face.”

The wistful look on his bone face wasn’t something she could read easily and started to worry. Was he cold?...and he started snoring. Great, sleepy little skeleton. A tiny smile crept on her lips at the cuteness of the situation. She’d take positivity in a heartbeat just to stave off the hurt from her years-old scar. Nope, not going there.

“NYEHEHEHEH! ITS YOU AGAIN, MISS!” Blue Bean’s voice made her lift her head and blink. Before her stood the black and orange cat-monster employee she had only seen briefly at the Meet and Greet area. Blue Bean was standing on the cat’s employee-shirted shoulder.

“Oh, uh, Hi!”

“Hullo there.” The cat-monster was taller than her – go flipping figure, heh, most people were, she was short, so what. The being who stood in front of her wasn’t that jarring to look at, for a monster. He looked more like an anthropomorphic being, a harmonic blend of Homosapien and feline. His sandy orange and black fur reminded her of a tabby cat coat, and it was gorgeous. His tail was long and fluffy, silky-looking in the store’s light. Her hand was halfway stretched out before she caught herself and felt blood rush to her face in embarrassment.

“Oh, god, I’m so sorry, dude…I should ask you before touching.” She drew her hand back.

The Cat monster before her blinked, and then started chuckling behind his clawed hand.

“Damn, lady, now I know you’re not a monster hater.” His voice was semi-deep and warm, not threatening at all.

“BRAUN BE NICE, I TOLD YOU SHE WAS A SWEETHEART. SEE HOW SHE’S HOLDING WALLFLOWER SO CAREFULLY!” Blue Bean crowed from his cat-shoulder perch.

“Sorry, Blue-Buddy, I just wanted to make double sure Mama Jazz knew what she was doing handing off such a fragile Bitty.”

___ sat up straighter to get a read on the scene. 1. Cat-monster was chatting up with Blue Bean like they were years-old friends. 2. She felt completely at ease, and her embarrassment fading fast. 3. Uh, fragile Bitty?!?

“What?”

“Couldn’t help but notice you coming out of the adoption room with good ole Wallflower there.” The Cat took a seat next to her and motioned to the sleepy little skeleton in her hands.

“Ah, well, yea, I couldn’t leave Quartz’s brother behind, could I?” She smiled softly and glanced down at the snuggly little Bitty. “Poor thing has had it rough, I’ve heard, being returned just because he has two spines.”

“Yea, it’s so stupid how humans need everything to fit just perfectly in their narrow world-view.” The cat gave her a look. “Present company not included.”

“Geez, thanks Cat-dude.” She rolled her eyes and lifted Skittles, wrapped in his scarf pouch, to nuzzle against her cheek. “Was I in trouble or something for getting him?”

“Naw, Little Lady; but he is a fragile Bitty because he has been returned several times. I wanted to come over and check you out to see if you were committed to keeping him.”

“Awh! That’s sweet of you…Cat-dude?”

“My name’s Braun Burgherbrók.” He introduced himself. “And thanks to you, I’m now the property of this little buddy.” A clawed furry finger reached up and tapped the tall Blueberry bitty on the chin.

“NYEAHAHAHAH! YOU WERE RIGHT, MISS! ITS OK YOU DIDN’T ADOPT ME BECAUSE AS SOON AS I TALKED TO BRAUN, WE FELT THE SPARK!” Blue Bean grinned brightly at her. “I WAS VERY SURRPISED WHEN IT HAPPENED BECAUSE BRAUN HAS BEEN WORKING HERE FOR NEARLY A YEAR, AND WE DIDN’T EVEN INTERACT UNTIL TODAY!”

“That’s great, Blue Bean!” ___ giggled at Blue Bean’s loud, confident words. “I was worried when you said you’ve been here for a while without being adopted. A cutie like you should definitely have somebody just as amazing as you!”

“Awh, shuck Little Lady; that’s flattering.” Braun blushed almost as much as Blue Bean did, standing on Braun’s shoulder. “But back to the matter at hand. Wallflower is going to need lots more TLC than normal.”

“Uh, ok, I guess I admit I’m totally new at owning…uh, taking care of bitties.” Shifting Skittles in her hands to cradle him against her chest. “Kinda getting scared now…what if I do something wrong and hurt him?”

“Awh, no need to get scared. You’ve adopted his brother, right?” Braun’s catty lips lazed into a soft, fanged smile. “Knowing Blue Quartz, he’ll help you out a lot with Wallflower.”

“Skittles, he said his name is Rainbow Skittles.” ___ said. “Which feels like it completely fits him.”

“THAT NAME FITS HIM PERFECTLY, MISS!” Blue Bean nodded seriously. “MUCH BETTER THAN WALLFLOWER, WHICH HIS FIRST HUMAN NAMED HIM. I NEVER GOT THE MEANING TO THE NAME.”

“My point is, Little Lady…” Braun interrupted his Blueberry, becoming serious. “Skittles may need to be with you closer than normal for the next couple weeks.”

“What do you mean?” Looking into Braun’s green cat-eyes, ___ tilted her head quizzically.

“Here, I’ll show you.” His large, cat paw-hands carefully took the infinity scarf-pouch from her and gently, almost as if the feline-monster was handling spun-glass, wrapped the scarf back around her neck and settled Skittles back against her upper left chest, right over her heart.

“There. Now he is closest to your Soul, Little Lady, and that will help out so much better than just holding him against you.”

“Souls, like that thing super important to you monsters?” ____ asked curiously. This was the first time anyone – human or monster – had a conversation about souls with her. She knew, by reading articles, sure, but nobody had really taken the time to talk to her about Souls.

“Yup, exactly, Little Lady.” Braun grinned widely now.

“Uh, that’s…all I know about them.”

“Well, nothing like a new day to learn something new, right?” The cat monster leaned forward and moved Blue Bean off his shoulder to his lap. The Blueberry Bitty sat cross-legged and started petting the tail Braun gave him. Oh the joys of having a tail. “You look like a smart Little Lady so I’ll give you the meat of the subject. Souls are the culmination of your very being, like a living-breathing battery of personality. For monsters, souls are our life-force; if our soul breaks or runs out of HoPe, we die – no second chances or dying for a few minutes and coming back to life on a hospital bed with doctors pumping medicines into ya. Our bodies become dust and that’s that.”

“Oh…ok.” ____ listened carefully, respectfully. “Kinda sad you can’t be saved like that, like humans can.”

“It’s the way of life, Little Lady.” Braun nodded somberly. “That’s why taking care of Souls is particularly important to us. Now for Bitties, all of whom also have souls – even if they are super tiny – rely on Soul feedback, or the magic emitted by human souls, to be healthy and survive. Like pets, they do best with people who love and take care of them.”

“Ok, Bitties like loving homes and nice people. Got it.” ___ furrowed her brows after a thought popped into her head. “But that doesn’t make sense. What about Bitties how haven’t been adopted yet or…Bitties who hate their humans?” Stitch sounded like he hated the humans who owned him before.

“Well, that’s not abnormal either. Bitties who haven’t been adopted yet form a sort of temporary bond with Mamas, bitty-store owners like Jazz, and seem to get by on that. I’m not sure how much you’ve read up on Bitty-stores in general; but Monsters have a law in place that allows a grace period of one month to test anybody wanting to own, open or take responsibility of a store that sells Bitties. Thank GOD humans have THAT amount of brains to stick to that law.”

“Scary to think of the politics behind that, but it makes sense. Bitties are tiny people after all. Heh, I don’t blame you for that. Humans are scummy and brainless like that…good to know there are laws for protecting Bitties.”

“Anyways, as I was saying…” Braun reeled the conversation back in. “Bitties who are returned more than three times have to go through an evaluation and rest-break – spending time with Mamas or dedicated employees to get their HoPe back to normal. I don’t know how Wal…Skittles managed to get adopted six times in a short amount of time…somebody here is gonna get fired if I have MY say.” Braun’s eyes furrowed and his face slid into a snarl of distaste before calming down. “But Skittles’ HoPe is really low, and he needs lots of love and care.”

“Ah, ok, I see.” ___ brought a hand up to cup a sleepy Skittles, who snored gently against her chest. “So having him close to my Soul will help him get better?”

“Exactly!” the cat grinned at her. “I knew you were smart enough to get it, Little Buddy.”

___ smiled brightly at the praise, sitting up a little straighter. Skittles was going to stay with her, and she wasn’t going to return him…AT ALL. Which brought her to the next line of thought.

“Uh, Skittles is going to get better, right? I mean, I’m not planning on returning him, but I’m going home with three bitties. Which is three more than I’ve ever owned. What if Stitch doesn’t get along with Skittles?”

“Stitch?” The feline monster asked.

“Yea, he hated his previous name, Fredrick, so I gave him a new name.”

“Ohoho, THAT’S who got Mama Jazz and Honey all riled up?” Braun laughed loudly. “Geez, Little-Lady, you’ve got guts, I’ll tell you that. He’s a mean little cuss.”

“Ohhhh boy, he’s that troublesome? He’s that infamous?”

“HAHAHAHAhahaha, don’t worry about it, Little Lady. He’ll behave for ya if stay away from the drugs.”

“Oh, like THAT’s going to make me feel better.” She muttered.

“BRAUN, IF YOU DON’T GET BACK TO WORK, I’M DOCKING YOUR WEEK’S PAY AND MAKE YOU TAKE THE TRASH OUT FOR A MONTH!”

Both she and the cat monster flinched as Mama Jazz’s voice boomed from wherever the hell she was.

“Well, Little Lady, I gotta get back to work, so you take care now and give Skittles lots of love and care.”

“It was nice talking to you, Braun. You take care of Blue Bean, ok?”

“Sure thing!”


	7. Clothing Choices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't mess with Stacy

To say Stitch was upset at Quartz’s choice of outfits was an understatement. There was no way his new baby-bones brother was going to wear such blue cliché clothes. Quartz was adopted by his Cutie, and as such, a younger brother; a brother Stitch never had. Sure, the baby-bones wasn’t the Boss-type Bitty; as cool and totally cut-throat/take-no-prisoners as those types were. But this is what fate dealt to him and he wasn’t going to complain. Besides, his other bro; Skittles, didn’t have the energy to reign in the energetic Blueberry; it was up to Stitch. Quartz was already growing on Stitch like a fungus, ~~a little Creampuff fungus.~~

“Ok, pipsqueak, first things first: shirts.” Stitch had bone-napped Quartz after throwing a hissy-fit on the counter and went straight to the Edgy-type clothing section. The two now stood on top of the display that held shirts and pants/shorts that appealed to Edgy and Fell types.

“I get that yer a Blueberry, but Angel-cake has us now, and that mean’s yer wit me. I ain’t being caught dead wit’ my Bro wearin’ gobshite baby-bone clothes.”

Next to him, Quartz stood, looking deep in thought. “YOU’RE NOT GOING TO STOP CURSING, ARE YOU, STITCH?”

“THAT’S wha ya picked up on!?” Stitch growled and dragged his clawed hand down his face. God have mercy, this was going to be a herculean task living with this Blueberry.

“I UNDERSTAND YOU’RE HALF AN EDGY AND HALF A BLUEBERRY?”

“Yea, so what?”

“I’VE NEVER HEARD OF THAT BEFORE. HOW DOES THAT WORK?”

For the amount of time Stitch had spent in Bitty-Topia, he basically knew most of the bitties who were there for more than two days. Blue Quartz had been in store for two weeks. He knew how tenacious this Blueberry could get in seeking knowledge.

“I got ain’t th’ time fer this, Cream-puff.” He growled. “We got maybe five minutes before Angel-cake gets bored and comes lookin’ fer us. We have t’ get clothes that…ya know what…forget it. I’ll get th’ damn clothes.”

Stitch grabbed Quartz by the wrist and dragged him to the shirts before rifling through the selection, pausing to take one off the bar on which it hung and held it against his new brother’s torso. No, no, not that one – too big. No, no…too gothy…ah perfect!

“Here, what ya think of dis?” He held out the black and teal bolt-striped shirt to Quartz.

“WELL, IT LOOKS LIKE IT WILL FIT; BUT I DON’T THINK I’D LOOK GOOD IN BLACK, BROTHER.”

“YA SURE AS HELL AIN’T WEARIN’ BABY BLUE COLORS!” Stitch growled loudly. “Here, hold that.” He pulled off another long-sleeve shirt, slate-red and black – for himself – and added a navy-blue quarter-length-sleeve shirt with tiny red pinstripes. Then he moved to the shorts section and chose himself a pair of black shorts with yellow strips down the side, maroon baggy sports shorts and finally, a pair a set of faded navy-blue pants.

The pile grew to four shirts, three bottoms and six pairs of socks, three for Stitch and three for Quartz.

“STITCH, CAN WE PLEASE GO LOOK AT THE SWAP SECTION? I WOULD LIKE BRIGHTER COLORS.” He tentatively broached the subject to Stitch, who now seemed hell-bent on choosing clothes as fast as possible.

“Jus’ give me a minute, Pipsqueak.”

The Redberry Bitty stood in indecision, eyelights going back and forth between his two hands. In his left hand, Stitch held a black leather jacket with gold stripes running down the arm-length, gold-flame bottom trim and gold zipper. The hood of the jacket was red with sandy-grey fluff framing the edge. A great choice for an Edgy. In his right hand, hung a blood-red cloth jacket with a black zipper and black fluff lining the hood. It looked rather plain if one discounted the awesome black cross-bones pattern printed on the red fabric.

“Which one ya like, Bro?” Stitch turned his eyelights to the Bitty, which surprised Quartz with the sincerity of his question.

“AH, WELL, UHM.” Quartz pondered carefully. “THE BLOOD RED IS A BOLD COLOR AND CERTAINLY MAKES A BOLD STATEMENT. THE BLACK BONE PATTERN IS CUTE.”

Stitch grinned as he held his right arm and the blood-red coat higher.

“BUT I THINK THE GOLD-FLAME TRIM SUITS YOU, PLUS THE BLACK COLORING ISN’T AS BRIGHT ON THE EYES AND WOULD FIT YOUR SHIRT SELECTION BETTER!”

“Dis one?” The Redberry lowered his right arm and lifted the black jacket with gold flames.

“HOWEVER, THE BLACK CROSS-BONES IS REALLY CLEVER; SINCE WE ARE BOTH SKELETONS.” Quartz grinned mischievously.

Stitch gaped and let both his arms drop. “DON’T CHA START! I KNOW THA’ GAME TOO, YA KNOW!”

The Redberry meant the back-and-forth game that they once saw in a cartoon via the shop’s TV.

“I’M MERELY STATING MY THOUGHTS ON THE JACKETS, SINCE YOU ASKED, BROTHER!” Quartz’s grin was FAR too innocent looking – this Bitty was a stinker. Stitch would bet his left femur Quartz wasn’t even a true Blueberry – he had to be a snot-ball in disguise.

Growling and tossing both jackets on the pile, the Redberry began gathering them up in his arms – before a shadow fell over them. Stitch and Quartz both looked up.

“Uh-huh. Ya betta not be plannin’ to steal them clothes, Fredrick.” A voice; snappy, demanding and holier-than-thou boomed above them. Stacy.

Now, normally Bitties couldn’t care less about employees – one employee was just like the next; all of them gigantic, tall and strong. But Stacy was something different. She was the classic, cutely chubby white woman who didn’t take no shit/attitude from anyone. Standing five-foot-ten and having confidence the size of a mountain, Stacy was a strong, proud and independent woman. She had gorgeous dark hair that was never down – her personal choice of hairstyle changed every two days, and her purple-make-up-lined brown eyes were sharp enough to miss nothing.

Bitties at Bitty-Topia learned within their first day to obey Stacy; and those bitties who thought they could get away with coping an attitude quickly learned their mistakes – vowing to never again earn her signature bottom-swats.

It had been a rite of passage, an urban legend, for the Bitties in Bitty-Topia to have a running record of just how many swats the more stubborn Bitties received. King, a Papyrus Lamia, held the second-place record with seven swats. The Bitty who held strong at first was…himself, having been mouthy enough to earn thirteen swats.

Stitch hissed, dropped the clothes and arched his back like a startled cat before zipping behind Quartz in attempts to hide.

“Hhmm-hmm.” her condescending voice rang clearly. “That’s what I thought, honey-boo. You better not leave that mess for ME to clean up.”

“HELLO AND GOOD AFTERNOON, MISS STACY!” Quartz grinned brightly, ignoring the fact that Stitch was hiding behind him like a terrified baby-bones. “I GOT ADOPTED TODAY!”

“Is that so, Blue Quartz.” Stacy’s eyes were still locked on Stitch. “Congratulations, honey-boo. Its high time ya found a human.”

“THANK YOU, MISS STACY.” Quartz beamed cheerfully. “MY BROTHER ALSO GOT ADOPTED, THIS TIME FOR REAL!”

Stacy shifted her orbs to Quartz, finally, and her smile turned softer. “Ah honey-boo, that’s wonderful ta hear. That poor thing needs a real human to take him in – I was going to do it myself, but…”

“WORRY NOT, MISS STACY, GODDESS WON’T RETURN HIM. HE SHOWED HER HIS SPINES AND SHE WAS SUPER CURIOUS.”

“Hm-hmm. I ain’t worried, baby-cakes. But Fredrick here needs to clean his mess up.”

“I ain’t Fredrick no more ya cuck!” Stitch bristled from his the safety of Quartz’s back, throwing a bony middle-phalange at the woman. “I dun have t’ do jack-shit!”

“Hm-hm?” Stacy’s eyebrow rose high as her brown eyes locked onto his red eyelights. “Is that so?”

~~~

____ was absently stroking her small sleepy skelly Skittles ( _hehehe, tongue twister: small sleepy sweet skelly Skittles in scarf_ ) who was tucked warmly in the scarf around her neck, processing the conversation she just had with Braun and Blue Bean. So Skittles was at a fragile stage and needed lots of TLC. Something she could and would do easily enough; although she wasn’t sure how Skittles’ personality would be once he got better. Would he be an annoyance and do that thing Lil Bros had the ability to do and startle her every time he appeared on her shoulder? Or would he just laze about and make puns, like the Lil Bros she met at the cubbies when entering. Well, however he turned out, she would NOT return him. Skittles was Skittles and Quartz’s brother to boot. It didn’t feel right to separate them.

Sighing and shaking her head at how her day was going so far, a smile stretched her lips. She would have never guessed, in a hundred years, three little skellies would drop on her lap – one, maybe, for sure; but three in less than an hour!? Whew, talk about an adventure!

She wouldn’t change anything about today…unless it was the fact that Stitch had pin-cushioned her car hood. Groaning in aggravation and running a hand down her face, ___ pulled out her phone to possibly book an appointment to have it fixed. Crap, it was going to be expensive.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE ISN’T HERE!?” an angry, loud voice caught her attention, and she lifted her eyes, sub-consciously bringing a hand to shield Skittles.

Two people, man and woman, stood angry and posturing at the check-out counter, arguing with a terrified young girl with brown hair. The pair didn’t look so friendly or clean. She caught a whiff of something definitely questionable from where she was sitting. Ugh, gross.

“So-sorry, sir, I’ve already checked in the back, and the b-b-b-Bitty y-you described isn’t there.”

“I demand to speak to your manager! This is ridiculous; he ALWAYS gets returned here! I paid good money for him and I refuse to believe he’d just up and vanish like that – too much of a coward to take to the streets!” the woman shouted at the poor cashier and pounded the surface with a fist.

Hooo boy, some humans never change; she thought and leaned back on the bench, torn between getting away from the tense situation, and keeping an eye on it. However, the shouting woke her sleepy Skittles because she felt him stirring against her chest.

“Huh? So it wasn’t a dream…”

“Heh, nope, if you mean being adopted by yours truly.” She tilted her chin down to speak to the Lil Bro. “You’re still my sleepy Skittles.”

“Hah, sleepy Skittles. Cute.” A skeletal hand reached up and patted her chin. “Your soul is so pretty…sorry I fell asleep, Lady.”

“Awh, my sleepy little Skittles. You’re fine.”

“So, what’s with the shouting?” Skittles sat up and draped an arm over the edge of the scarf.

“Don’t know, somebody is upset about something.” She murmured.

“Lady, uh, we need to find my bro and Stitch right now and leave. Those two are bad news bears.” Skittles sounded serious; which made her blink and stand up.

“Uh, ok…” She started walking to the clothing section when Stitch came running from around a display-case corner like he was being chased by the hounds of Hel.

“Uh, Stitch?” ___ questioned as he literally ran, full-tilt, for her and took a running leap to launch himself on her pant leg. He then promptly, hand-over-hand, scaled her body like a rock-wall and parked himself on her left shoulder. Holy crap! That was highly impressive parkour for a tiny Bitty. Such a pity she didn’t record that.

“Hey, uh, Idjit.” Stitch patted her cheek, not at all sounding guilty.

“Where’s Quartz?”

“Uhh…oops? He…uh, didn’t run fast enough?”

If she could see her Redberry Bitty, she would watch him shrug his shoulders as he did his best to morph his obviously guilty face into one of innocence. But, alas, he was firmly planted on her shoulder, rubbing his face against her neck; so the cute scene was lost.

“Stitch.” Oh boy, NOW he was going to be in trouble. Her stern voice made him flinch.

“THERE YOU ARE, you piece of shit!” the voice of the angry man cut through her focus like a laser. ___ moved her eyes from Stitch to the pair who were just complaining at the counter.

“Fredrick, you come here right now, and we won’t punish you when we get home.” The woman’s voice was hard and so-very-angry. The crazy woman moved towards them and reached out like she was going to grab the Bitty right off her shoulder.

Oh. Hell. No!

~~~  
Stitch’s POV:

“YA PUT TH’ DAMN CLOTHES BACK, BITCH, IT’S WHAT YA GET PAID FOR!” Stitch blipped to the floor and took off running for the front. There was no way in Hell he was going to listen to Stacy – she could put the damn clothes back on the rack. Not his job.

His magic was lodged in his throat as he felt the terrifying thrill of disobeying Stacy – giddy giggles erupted from his mouth as he felt Stacy shift to move behind him. The chase was on! Too bad Quartz had to be sacrificed to the hunt - ~~poor Quartz, I knew ye well~~. The Blueberry would most likely be a good Bone Bro and clean up the mess he left behind. Stitch owed new his Bitty brother a solid favor.

Casting out his magic like a fisher’s net, Stitch adjusted his direction when said-magic net picked up his Cutie-Pie’s soul. He’d run to her and plead innocence, making up some lame excuse of Bitty-discrimination. Yea, she’d question it; because his Angel-Cake wasn’t stupid – she was his soul-mate after all – if how well their vibrations were already syncing was any indication. She was one smart-cookie.

Letting the red ratty sneakers protect his tiny feet-bones as he ran quickly on the bone-motif tiles to turn the corner of a nameless display, Stitch felt a grin stretch his face as his Angel-cake’s beautiful eyes locked onto him.

“Stitch?” Her voice drew him in like a magnet and he took a flying leap to grasp her pant legs, and like the capuchin-monkey he currently felt like, scrambled up her clothed frame to end up on her left shoulder, nuzzling in the warm safety of her neck.

“Hey, uh, Idjit.” Stitch patted her cheek, not at all sounding guilty.

“Where’s Quartz?”

“Uhh…oops?” He shrugged and curled a wisp of her hair around his bony digit. “He…uh, didn’t run fast enough?”

“Stitch.” Oh! Her stern voice sounded so ‘stick-a-fork-in-it-Done’; she would punish him so badly, and he’d totally get off on it – a tiny bit of drool escaped from his teeth.

“THERE YOU ARE, you piece of shit!” An angry, masculine voice caught his attention and Stitch froze in fear. He knew that voice – and hoped to never hear it again. Damn it! He spent too long fartin’ around in Bitty-Topia and now the druggo humans had shown up! Turning his eyelights to the voices’ owners, he froze.

“Fredrick, you come here right now, and we won’t punish you when we get home.” The woman’s voice was hard and so-very-angry. She moved towards them and reached out like she was going to grab him right off his Angel-Cake’s shoulder. He remained froze with indecision and fear.

~~~  
Skittles’ POV:

_Skittles was having the best of dreams: sitting on a soft, spongy pillow and clasping a thin-handled paintbrush with his paint-stained phalanges. Before him, his older brother Quartz was giggling oh-so-happily and talking to crystals of various colors and shapes. Goober. A paper plate was next to him; messy with the various, colorful dots of paints his Curious Lady gooped out for him. Craning his head back, he viewed his Curious Lady as she looked up from her science-fiction book and smiled warmly. The bold, yet gentle cyan waves of color pulsated from her beautiful soul._

_Of course she had a Patient Soul, and a gentle curl of green-kindness that was slowly healing from abusive trauma from her past. It was so cliché, Skittles thought; that her two main traits lava-lamp-swirled into such vibrant turquoises, robin-egg-blues, and more than one shade housed under the Cyan family. It matched well with her favorite colors. It made him happy._

Human shouting startled him awake with a snort.

“Huh? So it wasn’t a dream…” He yawned blissfully. No wonder he fell into such a deep sleep, she had placed the scarf around her neck again, with him resting closest to her soul.

“Heh, nope, if you mean still adopted by yours truly.” Skittles looked up as she shifted her chin down, as if she was trying to make eye-contact. “You’re still my sleepy Skittles.”

“Hah, sleepy Skittles. Cute.” His skeletal hand reached up and patted her chin. “Your soul is so pretty…sorry I fell asleep, Lady.”

“Awh, my sleepy little Skittles. You’re fine.” The joy in her voice made him smile.

“So, what’s with the shouting?” Skittles sat up and draped an arm over the edge of the black scarf to get a look at what the ruckus was all about.

Blinking twice, then narrowing his tired eyes, Skittles felt his smile melt into a frown. The two humans at the counter ten feet away looked vaguely familiar. Then the smell hit his nasal cavity and he flinched. It was the pair who had walked out with Fred – Stitch – the day before. The same pair of humans who didn’t say diddly-squat when Abby and her folks walked out the same door as they did. (Abby was a good kid, Skittles thought wistfully; too bad he’d never see her again.)

“Lady, uh, we need to find my bro and Stitch right now and leave. Those two are bad news bears.” Skittles sounded serious, which made his Curious Lady stand up and start moving.

That’s when the shit hit the proverbial fan.

The little pitter-patter of a running Bitty surrounded Skittles’ ear-holes and drowned everything else out – the murmur and bustle of the shop’s patrons and employees, the hum of the electric lights and the shifting of his Lady’s cloths as Stitch came running out from a display case to launch himself on her leg and up her body.

The two bad-news humans at the counter must have been triggered by something because they both turned around and spotted the Redberry climbing up the Lady’s body.

Yelling and shouting cut through the focused silence as the angry looking woman lurched towards His Lady, a hand outstretched to grab Stitch. Skittles made a decision and put to use the EVAC procedures Bitty-Topia had and blipped next to Stitch, enwrap him in a hug and blip to the safe-room in the back. Thank god sleeping so close to Lady’s warm soul gave him the extra boost of magic, otherwise he wouldn’t have had enough to pull off such a maneuver.

Because he did, both Bitties missed the angry man’s reaction at being denied the bitty and ended up punching his Lady on the cheek.

~~~

Stitch POV:

He blinked, as one second he was frozen on his Cutie’s shoulder, and the next he found himself in Bitty-Topia’s safe-room. The room was enclosed, no windows and a single exit which would only open with a finger-print via digital thumb pad placed on both sides of the wall. Sure there were Bitty-sized exits like vents and tubes for them to make quick escapes in needed-situations, but only one human/monster-sized entrance/exit. It was a feature installed in higher-end Bitty-stores that insured the safety and care of Bitties – a room for Bitties to flee to if/when shoppers became too aggressive or out-of-control. ( _In a perfect world, rooms like this would never be needed, but thus was a necessity with the anger-prone evolved apes._ )

A cough next to him brought Stitch’s attention to the matter at hand. Skittles was on his knees, coughing and holding his sternum as if he was in pain. The strained look on Skittles’ face sent a wave of ice through Stitch’s bones. Little tufts of grey dust puffed from the Lil Bro’s mouth; the grey dust of a monster dying.

“Fuck-o-wisps!” Stitch panicked and started clawing his own skull. “Hang on, Skits, I’ll get cha some food.”

A shadow fell over them and Stitch shrunk in on himself in pure fear, stepping back multiple times. That shadow belonged to none other than the Pure-Bite he back-talked not even ten minutes prior. The thing’s singular red orb locked onto the two shorter bitties.

“Get Monster Candy.” The low-growling voice ordered the Redberry as the Pure Bite bent down and scooped Skittles up bridal style. “NOW!”

The Pure Bite’s tone of voice brooked no argument and nailed into submissive side of his Edgy part. Scrambling to one of the bitty-sized cabinets installed in the room, he started throwing open any and all drawers his clawed hands touched. Finding the one holding the monster candy – a hard, round, bitty-sized piece of sweet, magic-imbued sugar – Stitch grabbed it and blipped back over to the now-sitting Pure Bite and Skittles. He held it out to the Pure Bite, who prompted unwrapped it and popped it into his piranha-mouth, crunching the green ball into bits before leaning over and placing his teeth over Skittles’ mouth.

“Uh, Skits, ya gotta open yer mouth and eat the candy, Bro.” Stitch, once he had time to think back upon this, would be proud of himself for not stuttering like a baby-bones.

“Ok.” The Lil Bro coughed before opening his mouth and accepting the pre-chewed shards of monster candy from the Pure Bite like a baby bird. Skittles worked his jaw slightly before swallowing. The Pure Bite did this twice more before Skittles stopped coughing and allowed his whole tiny body to unclench – his pained expression melting into one of sleep.

Stitch blinked as he found himself hovering over his grey Lil Bro in worry. The tense moments of blank terror of seeing his other brother in such pain overriding his fear of the Pure Bite.

“Uhh…” Stitch’s brain short-circuited, being completely overtaken by the all-out-no-holds-barred-drunk-riot-fight between his hulking fear and his immense relief of having saved Skittles.

“Good job.” The Pure Bite’s voice softly sounded. “Saved him.”

“Uh, thanks?”

“EVAC need?” the Red-orb glanced briefly at Stitch before focusing on the grey Lil Bro in his lap, a clawed hand petting the grey, fragile skull. Dear lord, the Pure Bite’s hand was nearly the size of Skittles’ head! “Where all bitties?”

“I…uh…only me…” WHAT THE HELL WAS STITCH SUPPOSED TO CALL THIS CONUNDRUM BEFORE HIM?! “Some bad humans try t’ grab me from my new human’s shoulder. I guess my Bro felt th’ need t’ evac.”

“Oh. You safe now. Mama Jazz come soon.” The Pure-Bite pointed to the little green light at the door, an indication of bitties in the room.

“Uh, why ain’t ya tearing us t’ shreds?” Stitch nervously asked, rubbing his obviously much smaller claws together.

“Bitey is good boy.” The Pure-Bite, Bitey, answered. “Bitey only like chew on stickleaves and carrots.”

“O-o-oh.”

“Rocks, straw, straws, shoes, squeaky ball, carpet…”

“Oh.” Stitch nodded his head, agreeing with Bitey.

“Plates, stickleaves, walls…trees…crayons, pillows, curtains. Cupcakes.” Bitey continued to rattle off the list of things he chewed. “Squeaky ball.”

“Well, it sounds like ya have quite th’ hobby, big guy.” Stitch felt himself relax by hairs, puzzling out the Pure Bite before him. The Bitty was putting off heavy vibes of Big Dopey Dog.

“I Bitey.” The large Bitty before him held out a pointy-clawed hand. “Who you?”

“I…uh…th’ name’s Stitch.” He opted out of the hand-shaking.

“Who bro?” Bitey adjusted the sleeping Lil Bro on his lap.

“He is Skittles.”

“Like candy?”

“Y…e…a…” Stitch watched as Bitey’s ruby-red eyelight widened and glaze over, focusing on some far-away thing only the Pure-Bite could see. He took this time to carefully study the tall bitty who had helped save Skittles.

The tall skeleton was certainly something to look at, given how the gaping-hole wound nearly took up a quarter of the skull. The jagged edges were tiny and went around the wound in a uniform pattern – like something with tiny, serrated edges had punched in the hole rather than a random smash-impact. Bitey’s teeth were pointed, like his own, and sharp; each fang about as long as Stitch’s smallest finger bones. His outfit was a classic Sansy-type; a blue hooded jacket with fur cuffs and draw strings over a white shirt and darker blue shorts. White socks were tucked into blue fuzzy slippers, finishing the classic Sansy-attire.

“Hey, how come yer teeth are pointed like an Edgy and not flat like a Sansy?” Stitch opened his mouth and drew Bitey’s attention again.

“Huh?” Bitey’s answer came. “Oh, hi! I Bitey! Who you?” The dangerous Bitty extended his clawed hand again in greeting.

“Uuuuhhh…” Stitch felt his arms drop to his sides in utter confusion. “Me…Stitch?”

“Hi Stitch! Nice meet you.”

This was all sorts of shades of confusion.

“Can…I have my Bro back?” He pointed to the sleeping Lil Bro in Bitey’s arms.

“Huh? Who he?” Bitey looked down to the Bitty and blinked, as if he was confused as to why the Bitty was on his lap.

“Skittles…” Stitch spoke slowly.

“Like candy?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Be friends?”

Stitch was saved from answering when Honey blipped into the room, looking around before zeroing in on the trio.

“Ah, so that’s where you two went.” The nine-inch tall skeleton sighed in relief. “Good to know. Stay here while I tell Mama Jazz, ok?” Honey was gone again without waiting for an answer.

Stitch growled half-heartedly and flopped down to sit. Well, shit; now that the adrenaline over Skittles’ near-death was wearing off, Stitch suddenly remembered what had sent them to the EVAC room. He was going to have to grovel and beg to his Angel-Cake for abandoning her to the druggo humans. He’d rather blip right to her that instant and vent his frustration on the dumb-shit humans, but he had to stay with Skittles in case he woke up before Angel-Cake could come get them.

Grinding his bony palms to his eyelights, Stitch blinked back tears of shame and anger. She was his SOULMATE for Star’s sake! How could he freeze up like that when there was OBVIOUS danger to her! What burned more; is that a Lil Bro had to come to his rescue and saved his sorry bony butt.

Stitch couldn’t do jack-shit in the face of danger and he didn’t deserve her at all.

“Woof.” Bitey’s low, dangerous voice broke him from his downward spiral.

“Whatada want now, Bitey?” Stitch growled, not caring to fear the beast.

“Why cry?”

“Cuz I fucked up.”

“Oh. Still have home, right?” The Pure Bite finally stood up and shuffled over to him, letting his Pure-Bite tail wag back and forth.

“I dun know, Bitey. If she’ll take me back for running away like a baby-bones.”

“Have Home.” The red-eyed Bitty nodded firmly, as if he knew Stitch still had a home. “Have Brother. Have Home.”

~~~

Quartz blinked, shocked, as Stitch literally ran away from the pile of clothes he had made while trying to find decent shirts for him. Turning his teal eyelights away from the retreating bitty and towards Stacy, Quartz huffed and moved to start picking the discarded clothes.

“I APOLOGIZE FOR MY BROTHER’S BEHAVIOR, MISS STACY.” He sighed to the female employee. “I DON’T KNOW WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO HIM JUST NOW.”

“Awh, sugar, its ok.” The woman softened just a bit. Stacy was a sucker for any cute Blueberry Bitty, after-all. They were always so well-behaved and adorable. “Here, this pile of clothes were the ones he chose, right?” Stacy pointed to the semi-folded pile of shirts, shorts and socks Stitch had picked out before fleeing.

“YES, STITCH VEHEMENTLY DENIED MY EARLIER CHOICES, AND SO HE DRAGGED ME HERE TO SHOP FOR EDGIER CLOTHES.”

“Honey-boo, that wasn’t…a pun, was it?” Stacy’s purple-lined eyebrow rose sky-high, pointing to the display sign: EDGY CLOTHING.

Quartz froze, as he thought back on what he just said. “NOOOOOOO! HOW COULD I SAY SUCH HORRIBLE THINGS! PLEASE FORGIVE ME STACY, I’VE BEEN RUINED! ABSOLUTELY RUINED! PLEASE DON’T TELL MY BROTHER, I’D NEVER HEAR THE END OF IT.”

Stacy only chuckled at the poor Blueberry Bitty who was rubbing his hands up and down his chubby little face with an overly-dramatic groan.

“I forgive you, Quartz. But don’t you have a human to get back to?”

“YES, OF COURSE, MISS STACY. I WILL HELP YOU PUT THESE EXTRA CLOTHES AWAY FIRST.” Quartz was ever such the gentle-Bitty and helpful.

By the time Quartz had finished helping Stacy put away the discarded clothes, picked up the pile and rode her shoulder to the front counter, the Blueberry could see his Goddess. Mama Jazz and Braun both were holding back an unruly pair of humans who stank something wrong. His precious Goddess sitting on the floor, holding her cheek and…OH HELL TO THE NO!

The man’s leg lashed out to kick at his Precious Goddess. Quartz simply would not stand for that. He tapped Miss Stacy on the cheek and pointed to the unruly humans.

“IF YOU WOULD, MISS STACY, I HAVE THE NEED TO HAVE SOME VERY STERN WORDS WITH THOSE HUMANS.”

“Uh-hu, honey-boo, you go get them.” Stacy nodded her head and stepped over to the pair of trouble-causing humans, clearing her throat to gain their attention.

“PARDON ME, SIR, MA’AM.” The Blueberry’s voice was clear, concise and attention-demanding.

“What do you want?” the man snarled and turned to the voice. The look on Stacy’s face not only helped give him pause but aided in Quartz impending lecture – a captive audience, so to speak. Stacy had that effect on people.

“I SEE THAT YOU ARE HAVING A BAD DAY, SIR, AND I APOLOGIZE FOR THAT. BUT THAT IS NO REASON FOR GETTING ANGRY AT MY PRECIOUS GODDESS AND KICK HER.”

“The dumb bi-.” The brown-haired man started to talk.

“IF YOU WOULD ALLOW ME TO PAUSE YOUR OUTBURST, SIR, AND GIVE YOU TIME TO STEP BACK AND THINK UPON THE SCENE YOU ARE CURRENTLY MAKING. I CAN PLAINLY SEE YOU ARE UPSET ABOUT SOMETHING, BUT CERTAINLY KICKING AND PUNCHING MY LOVELY GODDESS WHILE THERE ARE CHILDREN WATCHING IS NOT THE BEST OF CHOICES TO CURRENTLY MAKE. NOW, I DON’T KNOW HOW YOUR DAY HAS BEEN SO FAR, BUT YOUR CURRENT BEHAVIOR IS MOST LIKELY GIVING VERY GOOD REASONS FOR MAMA JAZZ, THE LOVELY STORE MANAGER, TO NOT ONLY CALL THE POLICE, BUT BAN YOU FROM ANY AND ALL BITTY STORES IN A FIFTY MILE RADIUS.”

Quartz’s story of a speech made the two stinky humans pause and look around. Indeed, the ruckus they were causing had drawn a mild crowd of curious store-patrons; some of whom had reached out to cover young impressionable ears and eyes.

“Uh…”

“NOW I SUGGEST YOU AND YOUR LADY FRIEND PLEASE APOLOGIZE TO MY HUMAN AND TAKE A MOMENT TO THINK UPON YOUR ACTIONS!” Quartz wore a bright, positive smile throughout his speech and nodded when he finished. Then, turning his attention to his precious Goddess on the floor, Quartz reached up and gave a quick hug to the amazonite lying against his chest before bending his knees to get ready for a jump.

“CATCH ME, GODDESS!” He, unlike most of the other Blueberries, had a sneaky, impish side – brought on by the fact he had to do something out of the ordinary to cheer his brother up during the past week.

Quartz jumped off of Stacy’s shoulder and used a bit of his good old turquoise bitty-magic to propel himself onto his Goddess’s stomach. The look on her face was beautiful, as her jeweled eyes widen and her gorgeous body lurch into action; sitting up to use her stomach as a safety net for him.

His spontaneous plan of getting her mind away from being assaulted by the stinky humans and on to him worked like a charm. She easily caught his tiny frame as he landed on her stomach with an OOMPH.

“QUARTZ! You could have gotten hurt!? What were you thinking jumping off a shoulder like that!???” She immediately scolded him as her jewel-scented hands wrapped around him, pressing him against her soft, warm stomach. Quartz only giggled and nuzzled against her shirt.

“WORRY NOT, DEAR GODDESS, I TOLD YOU I’M MADE OF TOUGHER STUFF THAN A CREAM PUFF!” His words made her pause, before giggling.

“You did a rhyme, oh Quartz, you’re so darn cute!” He wiggled in joy as he preened at his Goddess’s reaction. Bingo. She liked rhymes.

“OF COURSE I’M CUTE, PRECIOUS GODDESS, YOU’RE CUTE TOO WHEN YOU LAUGH.”

Now her face was slightly pink, and Quartz knew he was forgiven for causing her worry over his jump. Taking this time to scent-search for his brother and Stitch, he climbed up her shirt as she stood, and grabbed the scarf to see if Skittles was in there. He was not.

“DEAR GODDESS, HAVE YOU SEEN STITCH AND MY BROTHER?” He asked as he spilled himself into the scarf to bask in the warmth of her soul.

“Yea, Trog came tearing out from nowhere and monkey-climbed up to my shoulder…acting innocent.” His Goddess’s hand came up to cup his tiny body and he sighed in bliss. “What were you two doing back there, hmm?”

“AH.” Quartz opened his eyes and looked up to her blessed chin. “SHOPPING FOR CLOTHES.”

“Is that so, huh? I didn’t know part of shopping for clothes included running for the hills like the hounds of Hel were on your butt.”

Quartz just smiled and pointed to Stacy, who was now able to focus her employee-trained attention on her. “THAT’S MISS STACY, AND STITCH WAS RUNNING FROM HER. MISS STACY IS A HARD-WORKER AND DOESN’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER. WHEN HE WAS FREDRICK, HE OFTEN WAS THE MOST TROUBLESOME BITTY IN THE STORE.”

“Ya don’t say?” His goddess snorted and rolled her jeweled eyes.

~~~

“Hello, Miss. I presume you’re the lucky lady who adopted Blue Quartz?” the taller woman smiled evenly as her manicured neon-pink-nailed hand extended with a pile of bitty-clothing.

“Yes, I’m ____. Quartz said your name was Stacy?” ___ introduced herself, and warily eyed the two humans who had assaulted her, moving away from them as the black rabbit gave them a stern talking to.

“Yes, ma’am. Again, I apologize for the damage they’ve done. In Bitty-Topia, we strive to have our Bitties and patrons feel safe to interact with each other.” The tall, make-up heavy woman rattled off an apology. “Would you like to press charges?”

___ nodded slowly and rubbed her cheek where the man had punched her. It hurt and she was embarrassed to be assaulted in public like that. Her once good mood soured and now she just wanted to go home. She reached up to the scarf and gently moved her fingers to feel out Quartz before relaxing minutely upon feeling tiny bony hands hugging her finger.

“Uh, no…but I’d rather…not talk to those people again…please?” ___ muttered and took the pile of Bitty clothes from Stacy. “Stitch and Skittles are missing, and I’m just done for today. I’ll take these clothes and the three Lil Bro sets, please.”

“Of course, I’ll ring these up and have Mama Jazz’s companion, Honey, do a store-search for your missing bitties.” Stacy nodded briskly and took the pile of clothes from ___ before walking over to the registrar.

“Hey there Little Lady, you ok?” Braun’s husky cat-voice came from her left and ___ turned to look at the tall orange-black cat.

“Yea, its…it was just embarrassing. I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Yea, I get that…Mama Jazz will be over in a second to check on you.”

___ felt her face heat up at being the center of this kind of attention. Being singled out by two unruly strangers and physically accosted had already plummeted her mood, but now having two tall monsters concerned with her well-being was just too much for her anxiety. Her hand went up to start rubbing her other arm. “Uh, ok?”

“GODDESS, WHAT’S WRONG? MAMA JAZZ JUST WANTS TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE OK. I DIDN’T SEE WHAT HAPPENED, BUT I CAN FEEL YOUR NERVOUSNESS FROM HERE.” Quartz shifted to stand up in the infinity scarf and placed his tiny bone hands on her cheeks.

“It’ll be ok, Quartz. Let’s just get Skittles and Stitch and go home.” ___ didn’t want to talk about her mood. Not after being assaulted in public and falling on her ass like a headless chicken. Talk about embarrassing – everybody in the story was probably staring at her.

“That will be one hundred and eighty dollars, ma’am.” Stacy’s voice cut through her train of thought.

“Uh, what?” ___ felt her jaw drop. One hundred and EIGHTY DOLLARS?!

“Miss Stacy, I’ll take over from here.” The jovial voice of Mama Jazz interrupted, and the no-nonsense woman gave a thin smile before bowing out to the black-lapine monster store-owner.

“Ok, sugar, I’ll leave it to you.” Stacy gave a parting farewell look to ___ and Quartz before moving elsewhere in the store.

“My deepest apologizes for them, Miss, I have told them they are no longer welcome here because they assaulted you.” Jazz’s golden rabbit-eyes locked onto hers and was sincere enough that ____ felt her mood lift.

“Uh, thanks…that…was kinda embarrassing to be suddenly punched in the face.”

“I’d say.” Jazz’s stern mouth melted into a friendly smile. “It made an impression on some of the Edgys.” A black furred thumb flicked to a few curious red eyelights peeking over the display case to the left.

THAT made ___ smile, as she turned her head to see what Jazz was talking about, and saw a few red eyelights go wide before disappearing.

“Spies?” She joked to the rabbit.

“Naw, just extra tough little bitties who are obviously curious to see just who has tamed the big bad Red-Fred.”

“Red-Fred?” ___ blinked, and then snorted out a giggle. “Are you kidding me? Stitch is that obnoxious?”

“OH, GODDESS, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW ROWDY STITCH CAN GET.” Quartz added from his snug little bed around her neck.

“OMG, I can just imagine him lording it over the other poor bitties in the store. Does he have a throne and crown and whack bitties with a scepter?”

“I DO NOT HAVE A THRONE NOR WHACK OTHER BITTIES!” Stitch’s voice was LOUD and indignant as he and Skittles appeared on the counter with Honey. “But it sounds like somethin’ I’d do fer ya, sweet-cheeks, if ya only asked.”

“OH MY GOD, I’m so done…Stitch, where did you GO!?” ___ scowled at the Redberry, and he had the guts to look guilty – which promptly turned into blue puppy-dog eyes.

“hUhhuuh…” He stuttered. “Shopping?”

“FOR 180 dollars-worth of clothes?!” She held up the two fancy jackets that he had picked out: the blood-red cloth with black bone-motif, and the black leather with gold trim. “The bloody leather jacket is at least one-fifty, Stitch, I’m not made of money…”

“Shite-balls.”

“STITCH, LANGUAGE!” Quartz admonished his new brother.


	8. Apple Cider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> don't give Quartz sugar....

Exhaling deeply as she FINALLY escaped from Bitty-topia with only 150$ less than she had. It could have been SO much worse, but Jazz had Mercy on her soul and gave a first-time buyer discount - along with an under-the-table deal of a monster car-mechanic who would fix the hole-ridden car hood real cheap.

Stitch was really lucky to get that black and gold trimmed jacket he had his tiny bitty heart set on. He was quickly becoming the more expensive bitty – car repair work was still pricy. Little Trog.

Taking a moment to enjoy the brisk autumnal day after being stuck in Bitty-Topia for what seemed ages, ___ inhaled through her nose and blew it out her mouth. The scents of autumn were awesome, with the crunchy leaves and loam becoming a heady scent. It was nice to smell earthy aromas rather than the stink of cars and processed metal and brick. Walking over to her car holding the required-by-law carrier that held her three new companions within, she unlocked the back door and gently set the carrier on the seat before opening it.

“Ok, um, I read that I should ask before sticking my hands into small spaces with Bitties?”

“Awh, Sugar-cake, ya dun need ta do that wit us.” Stitch clucked as he emerged from the crate. “That’s only if ya have abused or scared Bitties. Ya can get handsy wit us.” He chuckled and stuck out his little red-blue tongue.

“Stitch…” ___ used her stern voice, and he only cackled before hopping out of the crate and onto the car’s fabric seat to explore.

“OHHH WOWIES! THE SKY IS SO BIG!” Quartz followed Stitch out from the crate and his teal eyelights looked up…and up and up. “AND BLUE!”

“That’s what she said…” Stitch snickered and leaned against her hand when she brought it down to give Quartz pets on his tiny skull.

“STITCH! Oh god, can you not!? You Trog!”

“Luv ya too, darlin’.” Stitch grinned wide at her.

“Yea, I’m sure ya do, you little tramp, after I saved your sorry bacon back there.”

“Don’t be too harsh on him, Lady.” Skittles voice toned softly as he oozed out from the crate and sat on her offered hand. “He may be a tramp, but he’s good.”

She sighed, rolled her eyes and kneeled on the parking lot to get eye-to-eye with her three new friends. “He better be good, otherwise I have a time-out corner I’ll put his name on.”

“What can I say but I’m a stinka!” Stitch fell over, holding his sides as he out-right laughed.

“GODDESS, WHAT IS THAT!?” Quartz’s eyelights were wide. This was his first time ever being outside and everything was new. “WHAT IS THAT THING!?” He pointed to an orange leaf skittering by. Her heart clenched at just how godly adorable Quartz’s face was.

“That’s a leaf, Quartz, you wanna touch it?”

“WOWIE! CAN I!?” Quartz brought her hands up to his mouth in an excited, nail-biting pose.

“Weirdo.” Stitch chuckled as she reached down to snag the wily leaf, while balancing Skittles in her other hand.

Bringing the leaf up to Quartz, she lifted Skittles so he could rest in the scarf she bought in the store. The Lil Bro sighed happily as he spilled into the scarf and turned his grey-orange eyelights to his brother, smiling as Quartz took the leaf in his tiny bone hands.

“WOWIE! LOOK AT THE COLORS OF ORANGE ON THIS LEAF, GODDESS, ITS’ SO PRETTY!” The Blueberry Bitty lifted the leaf to his nose cavity and inhaled the scent of the orange scrap of tree-debris. “IT’S SO DUSTY SMELLING, WHY DOES IT SMELL LIKE DRY DUST?”

“Well, Quartz, leaves fall off the trees and lose the moisture within, so they become dry and crunchy. Its autumn and trees shed the leaves so they can go dormant for the winter. They grow new leaves in the spring.”

The tiny skeleton lifted his eyes up to her and she smiled, seeing tiny blue stars in his black sockets.

“REALLY!? WOWIE! THAT’S SO AMAZING. TREES CAN DO THAT!? BROTHER, DID YOU KNOW TREES COULD DO THAT!?”

“Yea, Bro, I guess I do now.” Skittles let an arm drape out of the scarf-pocket and gave a two bone-finger peace-sign to Quartz. “The world is super interesting like that.”

Chuckling at the two skeleton brothers, ___ looked over at Stitch, who had blipped across the short gap from car-seat to the door’s pocket-groove.

“Well, I need to get you three situated so we can all drive safely home.”

“If it’s ok with you, Curious Lady, may I ride in your scarf?” Skittles’ voice came from her neck.

“WHAT!? Hell no, I’m gonna be riding with Angel-cake like that. Skits, move over, I’m going to ride in the scarf.” Stitch immediately bristled at Skittles words and stomped his foot on the car door’s plastic pocket.

“Stitch, really? Uh, can two of you fit in the scarf?”

“What can I say, darlin’ I’m a bone-ified scarf-rider!” Her Redberry started laughing again as he blipped to stand on her arm. “Whatchu say, Skits, car t’ be my bone-rade in scarf?”

“Or a tangle of bones?” ___ snorted as her mind traveled into Pun territory. 

“GODDESS, NO, NOT YOU TOO!?” Quartz lowered the leaf he was inspecting and glared at his two brothers as they laughed at her joke.

“Ha, good one, Lady.” Skittles chuckled.

Anything more she was going to say was interrupted by Quartz gasping and leaping out of the car to chase a very colorful flier blowing by.

“QUARTZ!” She gasped as a new fear reared its ugly head in her mind. What if he got run over!? She leaned back and lost her kneeled sense of balance and fell onto her legs. One hand went up to protect Skittles and the other dashing out to scoop Quartz back before he ran too far away from the car. “Quartz, please don’t run off like that, you’re so small, I’m afraid you’d get hurt or something!”

Her precious little, crystal-loving skeleton blinked as he flopped onto her hand as it stopped him. “I AM SORRY, GODDESS, I GOT EXCITED BY THE COLORFUL PAPER. I SHALL TRY NOT TO RUN OFF LIKE THAT AGAIN.”

Stitch grunted and blipped on top of the colorful paper and firmly grabbed it before blipping back to the car seat. Living with Quartz was certainly going to keep him on his toes. Little brat.

“Well now, dis sounds fun!” the black and red clad bitty held up the paper to her and his brothers.

The paper was a flier for a Haunted House and Spook-tacular cornfield maze with Monsters! It shown a black silhouette of a farmhouse and a spooky cornstalk maze with jack-o-lanterns, bats with red eyes and creepy purple scarecrows, werewolves and skeletons with antlers. All of this was highlighted by a corn-yellow full moon with red-ink blood splatters.

“Huh, well, yea it is four days until Halloween and All Hallow’s Eve.” She carefully scooped Quartz off the pavement – him basically hanging off her hand - and placed him back onto the back seat before taking the flier from Stitch.

“GODDESS! CAN WE GO THERE? I’VE NEVER BEEN TO A HAUNTED HOUSE BEFORE!” Quartz turned around so he could view the paper. “NYAH! IT SAYS THEY HAVE A PUMPKIN PATCH AND MONSTER APPLE CIDER!”

“Ain’t gonna lie, Lady, it sounds like fun.” Skittles chuckled sleepily from the scarf. “I’ve never seen a pumpkin before.”

“Hehehe, I’m all fer th’ screams n’ scares, Angel-Cake.” Stitch grinned salaciously, and turned his eyelights - red/left & blue/right – to her. “Why not go n’ have a good time?”

“YES, OH GODDESS, CAN WE GO?!” Quartz’s excitement spilled into his voice as his adorable star-shaped eyelights lit up even more.

“Well, I don’t know…” ___ read over the rest of the flier and stood up. The place wasn’t too far from Bitty-Topia, maybe a thirty-minute drive.

“Unless ya a baby-bones, like Quartz here.” Stitch chuckled lowly and chin-tilted to his brother. “Pun-kin.”

“STITCH!” She felt checks heat up at his new pet-name and she snorted, rolling her eyes. “Would cha quit it, you dork.”

“Awh, is Pun-kin blushin’?” Stitch disappeared and she flinched as his weight settled on her shoulder. “It suits you perfectly, darlin’.” He whispered in her ear.

“STITCH! OH MY GOD! GET IN THE CAR NOW, YOU…YOU TROG!”

“If ya insist, Pun-kin.” Stitch chuckled lowly in her ear, sending a shiver down her spine. The Redberry patted her cheek twice before she felt something cold and wet sliding along her earlobe.

“GAAAA! Geez, Stitch, get in your crate and stay there, you little…”

“Awh, Pun-kin, dun be so mean. Ya know ya love me.” 

___ had nothing in her brain to retort. Instead she huffed and gritted her teeth in attempts to stop smiling like an idiot at the giddy feelings bubbling in her soul. Stitch left her shoulder and reappeared in the car.

“Do you three want to go to the Haunted House?”

“Yup.”

“YES PLEASE, GODDESS!”

“It’ll be fun, Pun-kin.”

“Fine, get in the crate to be safe while I start the car…NO FUNNY BUSINESS, STITCH!”

“As you, wish, Pun-kin.”

~~~

Stitch’s POV:

Stitch would never tell a living thing, but his soul felt like a worn out pup wanting to sleep in a pile of blankets. Today was already exhausting for him, but for his Pun-kin, he’d keep chugging along like a hard-drive. From his morning drug-induced high, to his rampage on her car, to waking up and needing a bath because his phalanges and arm bones were covered in smashed grapes; all of that would normally send a regular Edgy-type bitty to Nap-land for hours. But not him – that was only this morning’s events; and the next set of adventures had only just happened within the last hour within the store – nearly losing Skittles to death. Stars have mercy on his poor tiny bones, he was going to need a meal of magic-infused food to keep going.

Now that his new bitty-brother, Quartz, had the audacity to chase after a stupid, colorful paper that just so happened to be blowing around near his Angel-Cake’s car; a flier for a haunted farm house, they all were going to visit a new place – ugh, more energy to expend. Not that he had any REAL aversion against the idea of going to a haunted house deal, but Stitch just want to have his Pun-kin take them home so he could get a feel for his new place, plot out his territory, start laying out boundaries before setting up a pecking order for his new ‘pack’. He’d be pickle-juiced before he let that bubbly Blueberry dork wiggle his way to the ‘alpha’ position that was clearly his and his alone.

Looking out the car’s front window, he blushed minutely as his eyelights avoided the hole-y evidence of his drug-hazed shenanigans clearly on the car’s black hood. Eighteen puncture holes littered the metal surface. Damn, those holes were kinda big – what size bones did he summon?

“So, there are other types of bitties besides you skeleton bitties?” His Pun-kin’s voice caught his attention as he broke out of his reverie and looked inward. They had been driving for a few minutes and Quartz had convinced Stitch to blip them out of the crate in the back seat to the front, where now he and Quartz sat on the car’s dashboard.

“Yea, Pun-kin, there are.” He interrupted and blew a raspberry at his new brother when Quartz glared.

“YES, GODDESS, THERE ARE! MY APOLOGIES FOR BITTY-TOPIA NOT HAVING THEM TODAY, BUT I’M SURE YOU’VE SEEN A FEW AROUND BECAUSE BITTIES ARE SO POPULAR!”

“Huh, now that you mention it, I think I have seen a few non-skeleton bitties.”

“Eh, its nuthin to write home about, Pun-kin.” Stitch turned himself around to face her. “Sure, we skeleton bitties are super popular fer most people because we’re super cute and slightly easier t’ take care of, but five months ago the companies started rollin’ out more brands like th’ Royaltys, Grillbys, Dynes, Sciences and Muffets. Most of ‘em need more care cuz they have flesh ‘n stuff.”

“I’m guessing the Royalties are fluffy white goats and the Grillbys are little fire-people?” His Pun-kin was quite the introspective lady. He smiled. “But what are the rest?”

“NYAH! THE DYNES ARE THE FISH-WARRIORS OF THE SEA!” Quartz nodded and pulled away from his intense world-viewing via car-window to sit next to him on the dashboard. “THEY HAVE RED HAIR, BLUE SKIN AND YELLOW EYES. LIKE THE SKELETON BITTIES, THE DYNES HAVE SUB-CATAGORIES. LIKE MY BROTHER AND ME FOR EXAMPLE, WE’RE A SWAPPED VERSION OF THE TWO CLASSICS; SANSYS AND PAPYS. I’M MODELED AFTER THE SANSY BODY-TYPE BUT WITH THE ENERGY AND PERSONALITY OF A PAPYS!”

“Yea, and I’ve got the body of a Papys, but legit lazy like a Sansy.” Skittles murmured from her neck.

“Huh. So what are Science and Muffets?”

Stitch smiled to himself, proud of his Pun-kin being so eager to learn about his people – even though not all Bitties were skeletons.

“Science-Bitties are little yellow lizards with sub-types like us, and Muffets, well, Angel-cake; they’re all spiders.”

“Yikes, like spider-spiders, or people-spiders?”

“Dunno, dun care, never liked ‘em anyway. They always after ya money.” He shrugged and tugged at the shoelaces on his ratty red sneakers. “Why, ya one of those humans afraid of spiders?”

“No, not really.” His Pun-Kin paused for a moment to look at her phone’s map, then the Haunted House flier to check her position. She signaled to get in the right lane to start exiting the highway, and this caught Quartz’s attention, sending his brother right back to pressing his bony face out the window so he wouldn’t miss anything outside. “I just find you skeleton bitties far cuter.”

Stitch felt his soul energize by just her smile alone. So sexy-cute.

“Awh, Pun-kin, ya far cuter than any of us ugly bags of bones.” He slung a verbal ping at her and was rewarded with her red blush. Stitch would NEVER get tired of making his Pun-kin blush.

“NYAH! YOU MAY BE UGLY, BROTHER, BUT NOT I! I’M BY FAR THE CUTEST SKELETON EVER! NYAHAHAHAHA!” Quartz chuckled without batting a bony brow – both of which were glued to the window as the Blueberry absorbed new visual experiences.

Stitch growled at Quartz and the snotty little Blueberry ACTUALLY whimpered and acted like a scaredy-bones, making puppy-dog eyes at her.

“GODDESS, STITCH IS BEING MEAN TO ME, MAKE HIM STOP.”

“Tch, Brat, I’ll fuckin’ show ya ‘mean’…” He stood up and flexed his pointy claws at the obviously faking skeleton.

“BROTHER, LANGUAGE, PLEASE!”

“I SAID NO SHENANIGANS, STITCH.” His Pun-kin growled herself. Quartz stuck his little teal tongue out at Stitch.

“AND QUARTZ, DON’T THINK FOR ONE SECOND I’M blind enough to not see whatchu’re doing, you little snot. Aren’t you supposed to be cute and polite?”

“NYAHAHAHAHAH!” the little hellion threw his head back and laughed, bringing his hand up to pet the amazonite pendant still wrapped around his frame. “OF COURSE NOT, DEAR GODDESS. I AM FINDING HAVING AN EDGY BROTHER IS MORE FUN THAN I THOUGHT!”

“Uh-huh. Well, don’t come crying to me if he gets you in a ‘brotherly’ headlock and whups yer butt.”

Quartz pouted pointlessly as Stitch lost it and fell over, holding his sides as he cackled. Above them, she smiled once again, at their bickering.

~~~  
Skittles POV:

Having woken up in Bitty-Topia’s safe room, Skittles had taken a few moments to get his bearings right – last he could remember, he teleported his new brother to safety and…then; the pain of his fragile soul cracking from stress and overuse of his already low magic. But finding himself in a Pure-Bite’s arms like a rag doll made his soul feel fluttery and grounded. His new brother, Stitch, explained to him that he had evacuated the two of them to the back to avoid being grabbed by Stitch’s two drug-angry humans. Then the Redberry looked so worried as he further explained how Skittles started coughing up dust, and how Bitey, the Pure-Bite Bitty, had helped out and regurgitated chewed up monster candy into Skittles’ mouth, giving life-saving magic to help stabilize his soul.

Within the five or so minutes that it took Mama Jazz to come get them, both Skittles and Stitch made a pact to never mention the heart-stopping incident to Her. Both Bitties agreed that She didn’t need to know about Skittles near-death; it would only bring sorrow and worry to her own tender Soul.

Within that five minutes, Skittles had come to know just how much of a conundrum Stitch was when it came to stereotypes of Bitties. Just because the tiny skeleton was born of an Edgy and Blueberry, didn’t mean either of those types fit the dual-colored skeleton.

One handful of seconds had the Redberry hovering over Skittles like a worried Blueberry brother, and the next handful, he was trash-talking and layering his concerned words with prickly bluster. If Skittles hadn’t been so exhausted, he would have used his magic to take a peek at Stitch’s soul to actually get a glimpse if it was dual-colored like the rest of the Redberry’s magic – would it be split down the middle? Red magic on one side and blue on the other, or swirled like barista’s coffee art or was it thoroughly mixed to make a new color, like a can of paint? Would it be awesome if he discovered a brand-new color to tell the world of Art?

It really didn’t matter as Skittles felt Stitch was a Bitty with his heart in the right place. Any Bitty who stopped to give a damn about a freak factory reject was ok in Skittles’ book.

He didn’t remember much after being returned to his Curious Lady, Skittles knew he must have dozed on and off when he was slipped back into that cozy little infinity scarf-pouch around her neck.

Next time he woke up enough to be coherent, they were in a moving car and talking.

“Yo, bros, what’s up?” Skittles yawned and stretched his arm and leg bones out, reveling in how refreshed he felt. It was… slightly unnerving at how good he felt for being such a freak Bitty.

“NYAH! BROTHER, HOW ARE YOU FEELING NOW? YOUR BONES ARE ALREADY LOOKING WHITER.” Quartz’ upbeat voice brought a smile to his mouth and Skittles looked over the side of the black-scarf. Across from him on the car’s sloping front section sat his two new brothers, talking, trading quips and looking out the front window as the world went by.

“I’m feeling better, Bro, thanks for asking.” Skittles yawned again and rubbed his skull with his phalanges. “What are we talking about again?”

“NYAH! WE WERE TELLING GODDESS ABOUT THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF BITTIES IN THE WORLD.” Quartz’ strong, loud voice made Skittles grin. His bro was so cool.

“Cool, bro.” Skittles smiled softly and reached back to give a satisfying scratch to his two spines. -Oh yea, right there, that’s the spot…- He felt his left leg spasm and dart out to kick the Lady in her upper chest.

“OMPH! Skittles, are you ok!?” her voice sounded surprised at being kicked.

Embarrassment flooded his bones as he squeaked and quickly drew his grey hoodie around his orange-blush stained skull. HE JUST KICKED HIS CURIOUS LADY IN THE CHEST!? What kind of heathen was he?!

“Skittles?” Her voice asked again, and a hand came up to curl gently around his frame. “Skittles? Are you ok, little buddy?”

“Yea.” He croaked out an answer. “Sorry, I…kicked you.”

He heard the obnoxious laughter of Stitch as the Redberry was most likely doubled over in laughter.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAH, the look on yer face, Pun-kin, was hilarious! Ya looked like a zapped fish!”

“Oh, shut up you Trog.”

“I’m sorry, Lady, I didn’t mean to kick you. My…leg…just I was scratching an itch and…”

“Oh!” His Curious Lady burst out laughing, which made Skittles draw his hoodie even tighter around his face. If he could be swallowed up by a hole right now, that’d be great, thanks. “Don’t worry about it, my Sleepy Skittles.”

Could he just dust now? Geez; talk about mortifying.

“CHIN UP, BROTHER, YOU MADE GODDESS SMILE AND LAUGH!”

Skittles grumbled and shifted so he turned his back to his brothers, dozing off again.

~~~

Turning her mind inward after a few minutes of quiet from her three new companions, ___ thought of just how crazy the world could be. Quartz and Stitch were doing their best to get her to smile and laugh by bickering and keeping a conversation. Now that things had slowed way down; those ugly mental demons started coming to life again: Doubt, worry and what-ifs.

What the heck was she thinking diving in and gaining three tiny people?! She was in no mental state to be taking care of three tiny skeletons – she barely took care of herself on her good days! What she went through two years prior had nearly shattered her sense of positivity and optimism. Most days, she counted herself lucky to just be apathetic and able to float through the day.

Now, with three uniquely different tiny skeleton critters, she would have to spend energy to pay attention to the day – like worrying about meals and feeding them, keeping them entertained, and…and…

“Hay, Pun-kin.” Stitch’s voice broke through her mental swirl. “Earth ta Pun-kin, ya ok there?

“Huh?”

“Whatever it is yer thinkin’ it ain’t worth it, darlin.” Stitch stood up on the dashboard and motioned out the window. “We’re here at the Haunted place, and we’re gonna have fun, ok, Pun-kin?”

The look Stitch was giving her was laser-focused and brooked no room for arguments or doubts. She…would take that. It was far better than the alternative her mind was about to take her.

“Well, we’re here at the Haunted place. I’m hungry, who wants Apple cider!”

“NYAH! ME, I WANT APPLE CIDER, GODDESS!” Quartz squee-d in joy. “I’LL TAKE THREE CUPS!”

“Whoa there, Creampuff, I dun think Pun-kin could handle ya with that much sugar.” Stitch pointed out as she deftly removed herself from the driver’s seat and whirled around to face them on the dashboard.

“Hah, sorry, Quartz, I’ll have to take Stitch’s word on that. You’re already energetic enough right now.”

“NYAWH. PLEASE, GODDESS? TWO CUPS THEN?” Quartz slid into her offered palm and wriggled his face against her thumb, inhaling the crystalline aroma of her skin. “I PROMISE I’LL STAY RIGHT WITH YOU!”

“Nice try, squirt, not gonna happen.” Stitch gave a cheeky grin as he too, stepped onto her hand before turning his eyelights to her and the scarf. “How’s Skits doing, Pun-kin.”

“Uh, he’s asleep again.” She felt her cheeks heat up again at Stitch’s tone of voice paired with the new pet-name.

“Heh, go figure. That’s ok, Pun-kin, ya can use him a security blanket when ya get scared in the haunted house!”

___ puffed her cheeks out in indignation at Stitch and transferred Quartz to the car-seat before tightening her grip to firm-fist on Stitch, bringing him up to her eyes. “Now listen here, you little Trog. Are you implying I’m a scaredy-cat at such weak little things as a children’s haunted house!?”

The Redberry hung there, in her firm grip and gave his biggest shit-eating grin.

“YUP!” His answer rewarded him with her squishing him to her cheek in an aggressive ‘bitty-hug’.

“Little shit.”

Stitch just howled with laughter.

~~~

Quartz couldn’t believe how delicious the Apple Cider tasted! It was so tart and sweet at the same time, and he craved more. Bitty-Topia never had something as amazing as Apple cider!

“NYAH! GODDESS, YOU SIMPLY MUST TRY SOME OF MY APPLE CIDER!” The crystal-loving skeleton announced. He straightened his body from his-bitty-sized thimble cup, running his teal-blue tongue along his teeth to suck every last iota of the goddess-bought drink.

“HA! I believe you, Quartz. I have my own cup, remember!” His Goddess giggled and motioned to her human-sized cup.

“HOW ABOUT YOU TRY MINE, AND I GET TO TRY YOURS, OK?” He grinned, barely keeping his mischievousness from showing.

“NO!” “NICE TRY!”

Both her and Stitch denied him more apple cider. Quartz pouted, and secretly wondered if his precious Goddess was catching on to how devious he was. Impossible, he had charmed his way straight through her heart.

“Huh, hey, bro, what’s going on?” His brother’s voice entered his ears and Quartz perked up. Turning his teal-blue eyelights up to the black infinity scarf around his goddess’s neck, Quartz gave a brotherly smile when Skittles finally emerged from his cocoon.

“NYAHAHAHAH, GOOD AFTERNOON, BROTHER. YOU ARE LOOKING MUCH BETTER ONCE AGAIN! YOU SHOULD TRY SOME APPLE CIDER!”

“That sounds cool, Bro.” Skittles smiled lazily and draped himself over the scarf to view the scene better. They were at a wooden picnic-table a few yards away from a smaller red, weather-faded barn which looked to be a food-stand and shoppe. She and his brothers were enjoying the fruits of fall in the form of cups of apple cider, and a small, empty cup of popcorn.

“Huh, we’re at the Haunted House, imagine that.” Beyond the smaller barn was a much larger barn, which was decorated up to be a haunted barn-house – with huge spiders, clothe ghosts, too-white/too-thick spiderwebs and spooky, spine-chilling music paired with spooky nature sounds like wolves and crickets.

His Goddess’s hand came up to gently pet his brother’s already healthier looking skull. Quartz was ecstatic that his precious Goddess was humble enough to bless not only him, but his dear, depressed brother. Quartz had been losing hope that his brother would survive after finding him in the back rooms of Bitty-Topia this morning. The big wide world was amazing.

“DEAR GODDESS, MAYBE YOU SHOULD GET MY BROTHER A CUP OF APPLE CIDER TOO! AND MAYBE ON OF THOSE PUMPKIN SPICE MUFFINS. HE SHOULD BE HUNGRY AFTER ALL THAT SLEEPING.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea, Quartz. You two stay RIGHT here, and I’ll be right back!” ___ grinned and stood up to sashay back over to the food-barn to make another delicious food purchase. His teal-blue eyelights locked onto her – assets. He gave a soft smile, contemplating just how divine his Goddess was in her fleshy vessel. Her arse looked so plump and squishy, Quartz wouldn’t mind lying on it a few times.

“Eh, eyes off her ass, ya little imp.” Stitch’s growly voice made Quartz snap his attention away from her rear end.

“WHAT EVER DO YOU MEAN, DEAR BROTHER?” Quartz slipped into his innocence façade and smiled.

“Dun play dumb wit me, ya little imp.” Stitch stood up and flexed his claws at Quartz. “I saw ya lookin at her ass. She’s mine!”

“Pfft, Not Likely, You Wild Animal.” Quartz snarled, and let his façade drop. His soul was starting to tremble with all the stress his Goddess had been through today. This Redberry wasn’t going to ruin his divine goddess’s delicate good mood, brother or not. SHE did not need this stress of obsessively possessive Bitties fighting over her; not after being assaulted in the store. Quartz had tried his best to keep her spirits up and not spiral into a sad place. He had lots of practice doing that with his brother. She looked much better with smiles and laughter than a frown. 

“She Belongs To Nobody But Herself. You, Of All People, Should Know About Being Treated Like An Object, Brother.” He felt his serious voice slip through, and thus his lower voice-volume. “I’m Not Your Average Blueberry Baby-Bones, As You So Often Call Me, Stitch. But For My Brother, I Try To Be. I Don’t Know Much About You Outside Of How Tough You Try To Be; But Watching Your Precious Lil Bro Be Rejected Time And Time Again Because Of An Abnormality…It Does Something To You.”

Quartz’s serious words gave the other Bitty pause, and he could see the warring emotions flickering on the skeletal face. “I Don’t Truly Know What Happened To Make Myself And Him To Turn Out The Way We Are, But We Have Emotions And Feelings Just Like The Rest Of The World. I Tried Once To Be Adopted With Him, But Somehow I Wasn’t. I Am Beyond Grateful For Goddess Adopting Us Both. Goddess Does Not Need Us Fighting Like Mongrels Over Who Belongs To Who. We Are Together In This; All Of Us. She Is Ours And We Are Hers.”

“Uh.” Stitch plopped down and nervously scratched at his skull, thoroughly chided. “Geez, Bro, what a way t’ chew me up and spit me out. All I said was t’ stop starin’ at ‘er ass.” He grumbled lowly. A simple quietness fell between them as both tiny bitties turned eyelights outward and viewed the world.

For Quartz, so many things were new; the huge blue expanse of the sky for one. He was utterly amazed by the rich, vibrant blueness of it when he first stepped out of the crate in the back of his Goddess’s car. The skittering orange, red and purple leaves that swirled around the car had brought joy to his soul with their colors. Then the snuggling warmth of the sun-crystal which sat low in the sky. Both the sun and Her skin were so, so warm and Quartz tapped his paper bitty-cup in joy. Thirdly, the new experience of being in what she called ‘the rural area of farms and open land’, had Quartz’ head spinning with effervescent joy and awe at the newness of the experience. 

His Goddess was something else, so outside even the average-ness of the humans he had interacted with since his two week stint in Bitty-Topia. He saw it on her face; her wacky version of humor that she almost always ended up laughing at. Her humor was snarky and had a soft edge to it; like she meant to poke and prod, drawing out surprised reactions and get them to laugh. Then there was that sliver of pain that randomly shown through her humor: the same deep depression that his dear Brother Skittles wore – poorly hidden. Something had direly hurt Her enough that she wore a mask of cheer and forced positivity that could so easily be broken; a pale imitation of what she once was.

That mask had so nearly been shattered at the store; and seeing her on the ground being kicked nearly turned Quartz into a Fell-Type with his need to lash out and kill the two humans who dared to harm his Divine Goddess.

“Brother?” Quartz blinked and turned to Stitch. If he had heard Mama Jazz correctly, then his new bitty-brother was a hybrid; born of an Edgy and a Blueberry like himself. Edgys had the ability to view people’s souls.

“Yea?”

“You Can See Her Soul, Correct?” Quartz had a burning question he needed to know.

“Uh…yea?” Stitch looked extremely weary and guarded. “I do have that ability if that’s whacha mean. Why ya askin?”

“Her Soul? Is It Whole Or…Wounded?”

“Heh, so ya can sense it to.” His brother started picking at his own paper cup, one just as empty as Quartz’s.

“Yes, Brother, I Can Sense She Is Hurting From Something.” Quartz said quietly. “When Those Mean People Harassed Her In The Store, Her Face Had A Sad Look On It. It Wasn’t Pleasant To See That On Her.”

“Yea, Bro, I hear ya on that. I…wasn’t there, and I hate myself for it. I froze up when I saw the druggo humans, and Skits had to save me.” Stitch slumped in on himself, looking miserable. “Havin’ found such a ‘Goddess’ who would adopt me after what I did t’ her car? Well, I ain’t gonna be screwin’ this chance up more than I already have.”

“NYAH! WELL, BROTHER, I BELIEVE IN YOU!” Quartz grinned brightly and leaned closer to Stitch. “AFTER ALL, YOU HAVE US TO KEEP YOU IN LINE!”

~~~

___’s shadow fell over them as she returned, placing a pumpkin spice muffin on the table next to them.

“What were you two trouble-makers whispering about?” She smirked, having seen them huddle close together and whispering. Quartz’s first time whispering, and it was adorable. Too bad her hands were full of muffin and apple cider, otherwise she would have taken a picture.

“NOTHING!” “Nuthin’ Pun-kin.”

“Uh-huh, sure. Well, whatevs, Skittles has chosen the next activity.”

“WHICH ACTIVITY WOULD THAT BE, BRO?!” Quartz was on his feet within seconds, looking his cider-drinking brother in the black scarf.

“Getting a pumpkin.” Skittles grinned from his snug little place on her chest.

“I dun see why the Nard can’t walk himself, Pun-kin. When is it my turn to get t’ ride in th’ scarf?” Stitch grumbled and glared at the Lil Bro, who only returned an orange-eyelight stare and a casually smug sip of the bitty-sized apple cider.

“Because, my little grumpy-pants, Skittles is fragile and needs lots of TLC.” She smirked and leaned down to stare at Stitch in his eyelights. “Besides, I thought you liked riding on my shoulder because it makes you tall and important.”

Stitch’s skull lit up in a maroon blush and he sputtered, glaring at Quartz as he laughed.  
“Shuddup, it’s not funny.”

“Alright you three, let’s go get pumpkins. There will be a short hayride to the field, so buckle up and be prepared to experience new things!” ___ scooped up Stitch and Quartz and headed towards the farm wagon.


	9. Pumpkin Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if this chapter is crap, I struggled all week to do a decent Halloween chapter, but wasn't feeling very inspired...
> 
> Enjoy

Stitch was loving this. The weather was picture-perfect: a brisk autumn day with the sun giving just the right amount of warmth to counter the chilly wind in the air. The scents in the air were strong, but not enough to overwhelm the delicious earthy tone of his Angel-cake’s homely scent. He was squished between his Pun-kin’s plush thighs, being held there firmly as her legs were currently crossed; one leg on top of the other. Forget about the sneaky Lil Bro in the scarf around her neck, Stitch was in a FAR better place at the moment – if he reached back, he could almost touch her core. He felt his bones heat up at the thought and his dual-colored magic begin to pool downward towards his pelvic bones. Oh god, WHY NOW!? He had been doing SO good keeping his perverted, edgy side in check, WHY was his traitorous magic slipping his grasp…like he would slip his hand straight into her…

“BROTHER, LOOK, I’M A VAMPIRE!” Quartz suddenly popped up on her thigh-top and giggled, as he pointed to the two pieces of yellow straw sticking out of his mouth. “LIKE ON THE FLIER!”

Stitch stared at his brother for a moment, before snorting a few chuckles of laughter. His annoying brother had gone gaga baby-bones when she climbed the wooden, well-used set of steps into the hay-covered wagon. Before them laid a sea of prickly yellow straw – dried tubes of thick grass that all farms had. Quartz, having never been outside Bitty-Topia, had nearly blown a bone-fuse and promptly begged to be put down to explore. Pun-kin had only giggled at Quartz’s adorable-ness and had trouble keeping the Blueberry on her shoulder before finding a spot in the wagon to sit down.

The moment she had sat down, Quartz was off like a shot, jumping down into the cushion of straw to investigate, being overly loud in his awe of discovering straw. This drew looks of curiosity from the other people loading onto the wagon. Some of them laughed at the Cute Little Blueberry Bitty, while others just rolled their eyes and ignored it.

Now Quartz was draped over her leg and acting like a fool.

“Tch, why do ya have that stuff in yer mouth, Bro? What are ya, a horse?”

“WHAT’S A HORSE?”

Above him, his Angel-Cake chuckled, causing Stitch to lift his pale blue eyelights to her. She was gazing down at them and giggling. Stitch felt his eye-socket twitch and growled as his phalanges went rigid; palms slightly turned upright, like he was holding a bowl, to gesture at Quartz in a ‘WTF?’ motion.

“That is a horse, of course.” She picked Quartz up and pointed to a huge brown creature that stood on four legs and was trotting around a fenced in area.

“WOWIEE! THAT CREATURE IS SO HUGE! LOOK AT THE TAIL, BROTHER, IT’S SO AWESOME!”

“By awesome, ya mean a titanic beast of stompy death?” Stitch grumbled and let his arms lower to rest on her legs. “Word of the wise to ya, bro, dun mess with horses; they’ll stomp on ya without a second thought.”

“AWH, DON’T BE TOO WORRIED, BROTHER. GODDESS WILL PROTECT US FROM BEING STOMPED ON, WON’T YOU DEAR GODDESS?”

“Hhehehe, yea, you two don’t have to worry about being stomped on, if you just stay close to me, ok?”

“SEE, BROTHER, GODDESS WILL PROTECT US, SILLY.”

Stitch grumbled as even more as he tried to wiggle himself deeper into her thigh-tight embrace. Damn, it was a tight fit, which made him wonder if her other places would be just as tight…

“Pardon me, honey.” A masculine voice interrupted them.

All three of them looked up to a man sitting across from them. The dude wasn’t much to look at, as he most likely worked at the very farm that hosted the Haunted House and Corn Maze. Brown eyes the color of bright mud and curly dirt-brown hair pulled back in a black bandana went well with the weather-worn skin of his craggy angular face. A green and faded red plaid shirt went well with the guy’s torn-up jeans; completing the farmer Jones look.

“Uh, yea?” ___ answered hesitantly, bringing her hands to shield Stitch and Quartz cautiously.

“Couldn’t help but notice yer got some little Bitties there.” The man grinned with bright teeth.

Stitch hissed and tried to wiggle out of his thigh-tight snuggle-spot. He did NOT like the way the man was grinning at his Pun-kin with those too-white teeth. White teeth were SUS.

“Yea, I do…we’re going to get some pumpkins because they haven’t seen them before.”

“I’ma have ta ask yer to hold on to ‘em fer now, Darlin’. Some people don’t like them little Bitties running around underfoot.”

“Fuck Ya, Ya Over-Fucked Corn-Jizz-Dribbler!” Stitch used his big-boy voice. “Like Hell I Care What Other Fuckin’ Dumb Jizz-Dripping Cunt-Monkeys Think Of Us! They Can Go Fuck Themselves Sideways With Fuckin’ Rusty Pipes And Eat The Jizz Off The Shit Fer All I Fuckin’ Care!” He finally won his freedom from between her thighs and bared his claws at the man, snarling his pointy bitty teeth as nastily as he could.

Above him, his Pun-kin was completely red in the face, embarrassment flooding her system hot and shock, cold. She was so shocked at Stitch’s tirade, her brain just blue-screened, unable to form words to stop him. Next to him, Quartz was just as stunned, having his jaw wide-open. If she had lifted her eyes to the rest of the wagon’s occupants, she would have seen the nasty and incredulous looks being shot her way. There WERE kids on the wagon after all, and Stitch’s choice of insults was…overly-colorful for such young ears.

“Hey Bro, what’s all the shouting for?” Skittles appeared next to him and lazily slid into a horizontal position. “Oh, hi human, do ya work at this farm?”

“Uh, howdy, little partner.” the man looked thoroughly off-put at Stitch’s reaction, dropping the smile for an angry look when Skittles so deftly slid into the situation to defuse. “Yea, I work here, and I was just tellin’ the lady here to hold on to yers so yer won’t get hurt.”

“Ah, that’s mighty cool of ya, Partner.” Skittles grinned lazily and propped his skull onto his hand, exuding an aura of lazy familiarity. “But it’d be nice proper of ya to not call my Curious Lady, darlin’. My brother here…” Skittles gestured to a half-snarling, half-confused Stitch. The Redberry stared at Skittles with a WTF look. “Doesn’t like it when people get overly familiar with her.”

“Uh, oh, ok.” The man lost the look of anger and leaned back to put some distance between him and Stitch. “I’m real sorry, Miss. I didn’t mean nothing by that.”

“Uh…its ok.” ___ stuttered when she realized he was talking to her again. “I-I…I’ll keep my b-buddies on my shoulders, ok?”

“That’s all I was askin, Miss.” The man grumbled and got up before moving away from them.

“What the fuck, Stitch!?” She hissed lowly and grabbed him to bring him up to her face. “That’s no way to talk in public! There ARE kids here!”

Being in her hands and this close to her face, Stitch was surprised to see how red her face was. He was TRYING to protect her for fuck’s sake! The other man had been making a move on her and Stitch reacted accordingly! Couldn’t she see that!?

“I…I was protectin’ ya, Pun-kin!” He rattled out. “I didn’t like th’ way he was talkin to ya!”

“Ok, I get that, but that’s no reason to curse like a drunken sailor, Stitch!” She hissed and her eyes refused to move anywhere higher than his eyelights.

He paused and stiffened – frozen with shock as the vibes crashing off her soul finally registered on his senses. She was completely mortified by his outbreak and her soul was constricting in embarrassment. Stitch paled. He had to do something quick, before her soul cracked anymore from embarrassment. So he bit down.

“OW! Dang it, Stitch! OW!” He dropped the foot or so and landed on her legs.

“Sorry, Mama…” He responded instantly and mentally-slapped himself. Nope, not calling her Mama…it had to be Pun-kin, or Angel-cake or Darlin’. He whined and flattened himself against her leg, nuzzling the fabric to show he was remorseful. Would she squeeze him in punishment for biting and his outburst?

“Eh, what’s wrong, little turd? Can’t take the heat?” On the leg next to him, Skittles laid lazily and just looked at him. “That was quite the strongly-worded outburst, Bro, Un-cool. Ya made my Bro cry.” Skittles looked piously upwards to her face, which was now occupied by trying to comfort Quartz as the Blueberry Bitty was in shock over Stitch’s outburst.

“Shuddup, little faker.” Stitch growled at the now-livelier Lil Bro Bitty. “Are ya fakin’ being all weak and shit?”

“It’s amazing what several naps near a human soul and a cup of apple cider can do for ya, Bro.” Skittles replied. “Try not to let loose the Sailor’s dictionary in front of my Bro again, ok?”

“Whatever.” Stitch grumbled as the wagon finally gave a jolting lurch, before moving along the pot-holed muddy-ruts of a path to the pumpkin patch.

~~~

Stitch grinned up to the orange behemoth before him. It was nearly TWICE his height and smelled ripe for the picking. It had be ten or so minutes since the wagon had dropped them off at the pumpkin patch, and having been ‘sat’ down for a lecture on behavior, he begged to be allowed to fly solo to pumpkin hunt. He PROMISED his Pun-kin to behave and come STRAIGHT back to her if any of the other humans got too close, before setting out to hunt the field for the perfect orange vegetable to take home.

It had taken him all of five minutes to smell out the perfect gourd to claim as his. As soon as his nose led him to the grounded mass of edible plant, Stitch knew this was the one he was picking.

The pumpkin was near-symmetrical, with a proper flat bottom so it wouldn’t lean or tilt to any one side. It wasn’t the biggest or the heaviest, oh no, but it would be perfect for his own Pun-kin to carve something truly spook-tacular from. The rich orange coloring was unblemished all around, like the thing grew untouched by dirt; sitting upright and proper, only having its stem curve and curl into the ground to suck up nutrients.

“HEY, GET AWAY FROM MY PUMPKIN, YOU PATHETIC WASTE OF BONES!” An angry, demanding voice cut through Stitch’s self-congratulatory thoughts.

“Fuck-o-wisps?” His eyelights whipped up to the pumpkin’s top to see a red-clad Razzberry Bitty standing there. Oh fuck him diagonally with a spiked nail.

Razzberry Bitties were the meanest, most egotistical, most narcissistic pricks of Bitties the companies shat out. When compared to the demanding, yet more-open-minded Blackberries, Razzberries were like the top rung of the ego ladder; like the world existed to serve them.

The skeleton stood straighter than a white guy’s dick in a strip-club and carried himself like he owned the whole damn pumpkin patch. The Bitty’s red shirt looked like silk and probably thrice as pricy as the bitty himself. The high-end black pants were crisp, pressed and looked completely out of style for being in a down-and-dirty place like a pumpkin patch. Black elbow-length gloves were crossed over his chest as his bleached-white bones gleamed. Angry red-eyelights glared out, one from a behind two slashes down the thing’s left eye-socket. A scowl set the bitty’s sharp pointy teeth to dangerous mode. To finish off the posh, holier-than-thou look, the Razzberry’s shiny black lacquered boots tapped impatiently on the vegetable, with naught a speck of dirt or grim on any of it.

“The fuck ya talkin’ about, ya monumental fuck-ton waste of magic.” Stitch felt his own Edgy side come flaring up to the fore-front. No way in the ten levels of Hell would this tiny speck of hot-air would bully him into backing down.

“OH, SO THE LOWLY PEON KNOWS LARGE WORDS, DOES IT?” the Razzberry snarled and uncrossed his arms to snap black-clad phalanges. “MUTT, TO ME.”

The air static-ed as Stitch felt the proverbial hackles on his spine flare. Suddenly it was two against one as a lazy, lanky Mutt Bitty appeared next to the absolute waste of space Razzberry.

“You called, M’lord?” The Mutt Bitty was so obviously taller than his older-brother counterpart, as all Mutt Bitties were hatched to be. Taller by two inches, even though the black-coated skeleton was hunched over with his hands stuffed in the jacket pockets. Sandy-orange eyelights gleamed from within the heavy, fur-lined hood, while a thin wisp of foul-smelling smoke trailed from the Mutt’s jagged-toothed mouth.

“THIS THING DARES TO INTERRUPT MY SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT PUMPKIN. GET RID OF IT.” The Razzberry made a motion at Stitch, as if he was a cockroach-turd on the kitchen floor.

“As you wish, M’lord.” The Mutt bowed once and vanished, only to reappear in front of Stitch, straightening to his full eight-inch height.

“Tch, ya as whipped as they come, ain’t cha, bitch.” Stitch spat into the dirt and glared up at the taller bitty. “I’ve seen scarier things in mah shit, ya bone-bag.”

“Is that so?” The Mutt Bitty simply asked as he removed the heavy hood from his skull. “How about now?”

Stitch twitched and felt his eyelights widen in surprise. The Bitty’s skull looked like shattered-glass; fractures and hair-line cracks encompassing the entire skull without any discernable pattern. How the hell was this Bitty even alive with injuries like that!? How was the skull even staying together at all?!!!

“Like what you see?” The Mutt reached up to lazily remove the bitty-cigarette from his shark-toothed maw, blowing out a plume of orange smoke. “It’s shocking, isn’t it? To see a bitty-skull like this.”

“No skin off my teeth, ya fuckin’ trash-bag.” He stepped closer to the taller skeleton. “I guess I’ll just have ta finish the job and smash that pathetic skull of yers inta dust.”

“Try.”

“MUTT, STOP PLAYING AND DISPOSE OF IT.” The Razzberry-bitch demanding from on top of STITCH’S pumpkin.

“Of course, M’lord.” Mutt nodded before summoning two orange-aura-ed bones and swung them down to smash his skull in.

Like he was going to just stand there and take it – Stitch slid left and summoned his own red-blue swirled bones to twirl around and block a side-swipe of orange bone. Thrusting his left arm out to call up a wall of red spear-bones, he lifted phalanges to throw the wall upward, aiming to impale the Mutt’s feet and leg bones. If it was only that easy, but alas, the Mutt deftly jumped and somersaulted back twice to land away from the spike-wall. Then the Bitty launched himself off the mud and pumpkin-vined ground to sail low, rocketing to skull-bash Stitch in the stomach, slamming him against the pumpkin.

With a grunt, Stitch felt himself slump to the ground, landing on his knees before shooting up to his feet a second later, only to have his legs swept out from beneath him, leaving him on his back. The Mutt Bitty immediately dove in for the kill and knee-planted on his chest, holding a bone-spear in the air, placing aim to the soul beneath Stitch’s red shirt.

If he was ANY OTHER hybrid bitty, Stitch would have been dusted right then and there; but he wasn’t. Nor would he allow himself to be defeated by such a sorry-excuse of a pathetic bitty. Not after finding his soulmate - no way in HELL would he dust on Her.

Letting the two bones in his phalanges dissipate, he let his arms drop to the ground, looking every bit of a defeated Bitty to the shit-stain above him. His Pa taught him to fight dirty to survive the streets. Stitch grinned as his eyelights blew wide with full-blown red magic and he threw a bed of needle-pointed bones through his skeletal frame, sliding deftly through the gaps of his bones, puncturing through his clothes and jutting upward to hopefully catch the other bitty off guard.

It had taken days and nights to carefully master this sneaky move, practicing the Nail-Bed, adding to the carpet bone-by-bone to ensure the area around his own tiny soul would remain in a safe zone – an empty socket in an otherwise deadly carpet of nail-sharp spears. Doing it over and over until it was natural as breathing. It had impressed his shit-stain Pa when Stitch had added a twist to the Nail-Bed move and had angled the bones to cover the weakness the gap gave – looking every bit of a porcupine’s backside.

The Mutt growled and immediately gave ground to avoid being pin-cushioned by Stitch’s deadly carpet. The moment’s pause allowed him the time to add more bone-spears to encompass his head and the blank area around his feet, fully engulfing him in a shell of bone-spears.

“What is going on over here? Stitch?!” His Pun-kin’s voice cut through his bone shell and Stitch groaned. Great, as if things couldn’t get worse. His Angel-Cake was walking into a man’s fight and was gonna get hurt.

“HALT, MUTT.” The high and mighty voice of the Razzberry called off his attack dog as a shadow fell over them. Thank Stars for tiny blessings.

“What on Earth!? Stitch!!!”

He slowly released the tight grip on his magic and turned his snarl into a wobbly smile as the carpet of bones dissipated, revealing his body to his Pun-kin. Now that the dire threat of death had passed, he felt his magic lungs start to pump and heave, puffing out his chest as his system gulped down oxygen to replenish his magic. Opening his eyesockets to view the worried face above him, he gave a lazy grin.

“Hay, Pun-kin, didja find a pumpkin yet?”

“Just WHAT is going on? Are you ok?!” Her hands shook as she scooped him up, bringing him to squish against her chest. Stitch only could huff out a laugh as his body went limp noodle on her hand.

“Just peachy, darlin’. Just a minor hiccup in my great punkin’ hunt.”

“BROTHER, ARE YOU OK?!” Of course the baby-bones would be perched on her shoulder. “I SEE YOU’VE MET NEW FRIENDS?”

“Nah, bro, they ain’t friends. Dey foes.”

“IS THAT SO?” Quartz blinked and gave a searching look to the Mutt and Razzberry Bitties.

“I thought I asked you to behave, Stitch!” Her voice sounded worried. Great, not again.

“I did, Pun-kin, they started it.” Her glare switched from him to the two bitties standing on the pumpkin.

“Why did you attack Stitch?”

“IT IS NOT MY FAULT THE PILE OF TRASH HAD HIS EYES ON MY PRIZE, HUMAN.” The Razzberry-snot sniffed and glared back. The Mutt Bitty was back to being hunched over and smoking, sneaking longer and longer looks at his Pun-kin. Stitch growled and struggled to sit up on her hand.

“Fuck. Off. Bitch.” He saw the way the damned Mutt Bitty was eyeing his Pun-kin, and Stitch be dunked in cotton-candy if he was going to let that happen.

~~~

Earlier/Elsewhere:

Sans grumbled and growled at the fact that he somehow had been strong-armed into participating in some lame Human tradition of Haunted Houses by his over-bearing asshat of a brother.

It had been two years and counting since the damn brat, Frisk, had broken the barrier and set monster kind free. Not that being free was much to sing about – with the asshats of the human-race and their collective distrust and monumental stupidity butting heads with monster rights. Really, it was like the whole of humanity had regressed backwards from the days of being able to use magic. No human now could freely and easily use magic; and those humans who could were most likely isolated and insecure about themselves to be any real threat. Hell, kids like the Brat were more likely to send monsters back under the mountain with the amount of magic their souls could produce than any mature human. Something about the purity and innocence of being unjaded by a harsh, cruel world left their souls stronger, more powerful. Sans chuckled darkly to himself thinking of kids around the world rising up to beat the Monster Race back into captivity.

Not that THAT situation would be any better than what was happening right now. Asgore Damnit, why did HE have to waste his own precious time to play dress up for some hobo humans’ haunted house? To promote goodwill and positive interactions with the human race; orders of the King and Queen.

So here he was, a few states over from New New Home, Mt. Ebott, in some back-ass water hick town playing the main role of some lame-ass scare house that humans invented for whatever lame holiday of the season. IT sucked to be a skeleton right about now.

“STARS DAMN IT, Titan, why do I have to be the one to expose myself to the dumb fuck humans?” Sans turned his red eyelights to his two tiny companions, a Razzberry type and his brother, Doge, a Mutt type.

It had been a stroke of genius when that lunatic royal scientist Alphys had come up with Bitty Companions in order to slash the gap of distrust between Humans and Monsters. Humans had a weakness for cute things, and tiny skeletons were the best thing since sliced bread. The idea had worked out so annoyingly well that his asshat brother, Papyrus, demanded Sans get two Bitties of his own.

Sans had agreed quickly enough, planning to get tiny versions of him and his brother; but NOOO: the ass-clown captain of the Royal Guard Undyne had pulled her weight to get the Swapfell Prototypes and gave them to Sans - whereas his brother had received the prototypes of the original Fells, which were modeled after them.

“I DON’T KNOW, NOR DO I CARE; YOU SAD, PATHETIC WASTE OF POTENTIAL.” Titan gritted his perfect tiny skeletal teeth and turned away from the mirror he was using to admire himself.

Sans hated his Bitty companions – they were the joke the Universe had played at his expense. Seeing his ass-hat brother’s over-bearing personality in HIS body was infuriating to say the least. It was like Sans had TWO ass-hat brothers hovering his shoulders. Not that seeing HIS personality in a pathetic copy of his brother’s body was any better. The Mutt Bitty was an utter and irredeemable slave to his Razzberry brother. Doge did anything Titan ordered him to do: no questions asked, and no attitude given.

The universe could go sodomize itself with black-holes for all Sans cared.

“Perhaps M’lord would like to try to find the perfect pumpkin this season? It seems to be a popular event with the humans?” Doge gently suggested. The Mutt Bitty was sprawled out on a metal chair, chewing on the tiny bitty cigarette clenched between his teeth.

“THAT WOUD BE A FAR BETTER USE OF MY TIME THAN WAITING AROUND HERE LISTENING TO THE WASTE OF SPACE WHINE AND SNIVEL AT HIS DUTY.” Titan nodded sagely and walked to the edge of the table and jumped off. “BESIDES, I HEARD THAT CAPTAIN AND LACKEY HAVE ALREADY GOTTEN INTO THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN. THEY HAVE CHOSEN PUMPKINS TO CARVE WITH THE ROYAL GUARDS. WE SHALL NOT BE OUT-DONE ON THAT FRONT, MUTT.”

Above them, Sans gritted his teeth at the mention of his brother’s bitties. Captain, a Fell-Type bitty, was a tiny replica of his ass-hat brother, Papyrus, and it annoyed Sans to no end how much that inflated his brother’s already titanic ego. Lackey was a tiny version of him, and even though his brother had the first-ever made Bitties, no quarter was given in how the tiny version of him was treated. Sans knew Lackey had to live with twice the abuse from brotherly skeletons – one tiny, and one titanic.

Sans hated it, and he hated Titan and Doge; and would have dusted the both of them from the start, had they not been the prototypes. His brother Papyrus would make an example of him if he messed with the precious prototypes.

“Yea, yea, yea, why dun ya shits go out and get some pumpkins or gourds or whatever else ya can find in the fields. Like Ah care.” Sans growled out and rubbed his skull down with a grimy blue towel. The amount of crap he had to wear for this Haunted House was ridiculous – a different get-up for each day. Yesterday it was a scarecrow, and he had to stuff straw in his eye-sockets and mouth and the day before that was a skeletal vampire, complete with fake dripping blood from his monster fangs.

Today he had obscene amounts of black face paint on his skull to mimic the Horror-type Bitty and their gaping skull wounds. It was quite sick to see just how popular a broken skeleton was with the darker side of humanity. Even Alphys was mildly remorseful in creating the carnivorous Sans-type Bitties, having dusted several Sansys to find the right ratio of injury to inflict on a skull to create the Horror-types. But in the end, money was money to the Royal Scientist and whatever padded her own pockets to fuel her lunatic science protects was ok in her book. Theirs was a Fell, foul, cruel world after all.

“WHILE YOU HAVE AN HOUR’S BREAK, PEON, I, FOR ONE, WILL NOT WASTE MY TIME LOITERING IN THIS OBESCENE-SMELLING ROOM FOR THAT DURATION.” Titan’s miniature five-half inch frame talked down to Sans with ease. “COME, MUTT, LET US GO TO THIS PATHETIC FARM’S SORRY EXCUSE FOR A FIELD TO FIND THE PERFECT PUMPKIN.”

“Of course, a wise decision, M’lord.” Doge sat up from the chair he was lying in and teleported to the long-winded hot-air bag of a Bitty. “Would M’lord like to stop first for the apple cider and pumpkin muffins?”

“YES, MUTT, THAT WOULD PLEASE ME GREATLY.” Titan smiled widely as his brother offered a bony arm for him to latch onto before both brothers vanished.

“Good riddance, ya shit stains, Ah hope th’ crows peck yer bones t’ dust.” He muttered under his breath and finally sat down in the metal chair that Doge had been using.

Sans would call off tomorrow, claiming some rare and devastating monster illness. The farm could go without a living skeleton in their haunted house for a damned day; better yet, they could use the cheap imitation skeletons that humans seemed so fond of mass-producing for the Halloween season. No skin off his teeth.

The only damned reason Sans was still here, was because his brother had dragged him along. Papyrus was under order to investigate rumors of some dumb-hick humans trying to breed bitties in order to start a competing market. Like some wishy-washy, backyard store could ever compete with the massive behemoth of a company Alphys had created to produce and distribute insane amounts of Bitties.

Besides, the Coo-Coo Crazy had been so damn proud to finally make the break-through of new Bitty types outside the skeletons. Models taking after the stronger population of monsters had been unveiled five months back and had extremely well received. If monsters were rich from the gold-to-human currency exchange, now they were simply rolling in the banks thanks to the Bitty Craze.

Pulling out a stiff cigarette from his black coat pocket, Sans brought it to his shark-teeth and snapped his fingers to light the end, inhaling deeply the satisfying echo-flower and pine-moss flavor before blowing it out his nasal cavity. Maybe he could seduce one of the women who helped bring the dumb haunted house to fruition into having a fun night in bed. Stars above, how he needed a stress reliever.

There was a knock on the door and Sans growled, hating whoever was idiotic enough to interrupt his break.

“Hay, Skeleton dude, Jack just called and said yer Bitties are pickin’ fights with people at the Pumpkin Patch.”

“Fuck off Human, Ah’m on break.” Sans snarled out and turned to the mirror to view his face. He wasn’t happy.

“Well, I don’t care, hell if I’m held responsible for yer bitties bitin’ people. Jack won’t want that messin’ up the Haunted House Gig.”

God, would the human just shut the fuck up and leave?! Sans ran his clawed phalanges down his face, growling. “Fine, tell Jack Ah’ll take care o’ the shits, but he owes me a day off tomorra.”

“Whatever, Skeleton Dude, just don’t let them Bitties of yers scare off the patrons.”

Sans rubbed his face again and thought about snubbing out his cigarette, but chose not to, taking another drag before standing up and grabbing his black jacket. He tossed that on over the white-flannel shirt before exhaling the drag. Might as well give Titan and Doge some sort of hell for messing with other humans.

Sans teleported.


	10. Bitey is Bae

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bitey is Adorbs
> 
> This takes places the day before Troglodyte.

As far back as Bitey could remember, he was something to be feared by others of his kind – his kind being tiny, tiny skeletons. Some skeletons were taller than Bitey, but many of them were shorter…much shorter. All of them lived in the world ruled by gigantic fleshy creatures and giant monsters who looked nothing like the giant fleshy creatures other than also walking on two legs. Some monsters had more than two legs, and Bitey even once saw a monster with no legs.

But it was all the same in the world: tiny little him had to beware of the walking giants or he would be squashed like…well, he didn’t have anything in his gapped memory to fill in that threat level.

Bitey was a Bitty Skeleton of few words, probably because of the hole in his head. He was always being told he had problems with his memory – had been told frequently enough that the fact stuck in his fractured mind like a burr. Who had been there to constantly tell him that in the most caring way possible? There had to be somebody who wasn’t at all afraid of him; somebody who cared enough to be by Bitey’s side long enough to leave an impression.

Bitey couldn’t remember and it frustrated him to no end, not caring when his claws started tugging at his empty left eye-socket, pulling and scratching until it started bleeding marrow and red-magic. Then he started to cry – fat, rolling tears of despair at the fleeting thought of having lost something precious to him.

Something to his right moved noisily and caught his attention. Bitey lowered his arms and turned his single working eyelight to the thing that was moving.

It was another skeleton, taller than Bitey and thinner; looking like a…Bitey didn’t have any words to describe the skeleton. But seeing the other Skeleton sent waves of overwhelming joy thumping through his tiny soul and Bitey crawled over to the skeleton, feeling his long, bony tail start wagging back and forth furiously.

“BRO!”

“Really Now, Brother, I’m Not Even Gone For Ten Minutes And You Become An Absolute Mess.” The other skeleton clucked like a hen at him. Bitey didn’t care and threw his arms around the other skeleton, hugging tightly and letting his bone-tail wag like there was no tomorrow.

“Bitey sorry, Bro! Bitey forgot again! No Leave!” Bitey felt himself being lifted by the taller skeleton and nuzzled his tear-stained face on the white shirt his Bro was wearing.

“Really, Brother, It’s Ok!” The taller skeleton wrapped his own lanky arms around Bitey and gave an equally tight squeeze back. Bitey felt his tail was about to fall off from wagging so much.

Another shadow fell over him and his Brother. Bitey’s mind flipped into defense mode; baring his claws and pushing out his shark teeth, ready to rend and shred the threat.

“Bitey, Calm. I’m Jacob. You and your Brother have lots of Food and Chews.”

Chew! Bitey LOVED to chew things! That’s right, Jacob was Bitey’s helper and his Bro’s best friend!

“Jacob!” Bitey said and his whole bony body was rattling in joy. He remembered Jacob! His Bro and Jacob loved to cook food together!

“Yes, Brother, Jacob. Good Job Remembering!” his brother chuckled from over his head. His Brother, Chef!

“Chef! Bro! What you cookin’ now?” Bitey grinned widely, loving the pun he just used on his brother.

“NYEHEHEHE, BROTHER DON’T YOU DARE!” Chef growled out his fake-displeasure at the pun. “There Will Be NO Puns In The Kitchen!”

Bitey wiggled out of his brother’s arms to look around. Indeed, they were in a kitchen and now that Chef was by his side, Bitey remembered what had happened.

He, Jacob and Chef were creating a new recipe for the Bar and Grill Jacob worked at when Bitey was asked to help open a can of tomato paste. He was so enthused to help, Bitey had all-out attacked the can, using his shark teeth to puncture the can several times, getting tomato paste everywhere; but mostly on his clothes. Bitey looked down to see the only article of clothing he had on was a black and grey bitty-sized apron.

“You had super fun with a can of tomato paste.” Jacob firmly told Bitey, catching Bitey’s attention along with his singular ruby-red eyelight. “Chef asked you to sit there while we both went to stick your clothes in the washer.”

Bitey’s complete attention was on the giant man-human above him, basking in the firm, but overwhelming care coming from the man’s soul. Jacob. Jacob was a top-cook at some cool food-place that served food to humans and monsters alike. The black-haired man had taken him and his brother from a shelter and brought them home. Jacob named him Bitey and named his brother Chef because his brother loved cooking food. Bitey loved Chef and Jacob. It had been extremely rough going the first week, but with help, Jacob had come to understand who and what Bitey was, and adjusted life accordingly.

Namely the fact that Bitey LOVED to chew things. Anything and everything that Bitey could get his tiny bone hands on was something to be chewed. It had taken Jacob and Chef several times to firmly ingrain the rule of no chewing anything unless it was given to Bitey. Managing a busy restaurant was far easier than training Bitey to not chew everything in sight. 

“I thank you for your help, Bitey, but let’s take a break, ok?” Jacob was chuckling at the pasty, red mess on the counter. “Chef, could you get the large cow bone so Bitey can chew while I clean up?”

“Of Course, Friend Jacob! Worry Not, I Shall Keep My Brother Occupied Before Coming To Help You Clean Up!” Jacob chuckled as he moved to get towels and wet-rags to clean the red mess up.

“Tomato taste good.” Bitey eyed a particularly close glop of tomato paste and started leaning towards it.

“Now, Now, Brother, None Of That. Jacob Will Be Sure To Scrape The Mess Into A Container For You To Eat At A Later Time!” Jacob and Chef were SO cool! “For Now, Let’s Take A Break And Chew Something, Ok!”

Chew, YES! Bitey LOVED to chew! But only if Chef or Jacob directly gave it to him. Bitey let Chef grab his hand and drag him to the Big Metal Box of Food. The Big Metal Box of Food was Holy, and not to be left open so the Coldness could escape its job in keeping the Food cold. Bitey knew that Rule and made sure he ALWAYS closed the Metal Door even though sometimes he couldn’t remember why.

“Brother, Would You Like The Big Cow Thigh Bone To Chew Or Some Carrots?” Chef used his pale orange magic to open the Metal Door.

“Bone! Bone tasty!” Bitey spoke his choice to his Super Awesome Cool Brother.

“Very Well, Brother.” Chef’s left eye glowed pale orange when he used his magic to grasp the nearly-as-tall-as-Bitey cow bone from the Metal Box’s top shelf. Bitey felt the drool escape his teeth and his tail start wagging again as the hollow white bone of Chomp-Chew left the Coldness and float into Chef’s hands. Chef pointedly looked Bitey in the eyelight as he firmly closed the Metal Box Door, smiling when Bitey nodded at the completion of the Rule.

“Very Good, Brother. We Must Insure The Metal Box Door Is Closed After Every Time We Use It, Right?”

“Yes!” Bitey agreed. The Food within the Metal Box was precious, and never to be wasted. Bitey didn’t quite know why he knew that, but he did. Food was precious. Never waste food.

“Here You Go, Brother, You Sit Right Here And Chew While I Help Jacob Clean The Kitchen.” Chef gently guided Bitey up the tiny ramp to the counter next to the Metal Food Box. Chef gave Bitey the cow-bone and kissed the top of Bitey’s skull tenderly, opposite the gaping hole.

Bitey’s eyelight watered in joy and he hugged the Bone that was nearly as big as him. “I love Bro.”

“I Love You Too, Brother.” Chef grinned huge. “Now Chew.”

~~~

Bitey’s jaw was tired from chewing on the white Bone of Cow and he pulled back, looking at just how much stronger he was than a bone. Several teeth marks littered the length of the bone and Bitey used the grey apron he wore to wipe off some of his ruby-red drool from a particularly deep bite. Smiling at a job well done, he turned his eyelight to the thing moving at the other side of the room. A human male was swaying along a silvery-gray hole in in the ground, putting his hands under the thin waterfall that was coming from a silver branch.

Narrowing his eyelight to focus on the human male, Bitey made note of every little move the human made. First, he had an off-blue…towel. A blue towel spotted with red. Bitey stiffened. Was that blood? Where was his Brother? Did this human hurt his Brother?! Bitey felt his hackles start to flare and a low growl coming from his throat. HOW DARE THIS HUMAN HURT HIS BROTHER! Bitey was going to bite the human’s head clean off!

The human turned around and Bitey was mildly surprised when grey-brown eyes locked with his. Only predators had the nerve to stare Bitey in the eyes. Bitey growled a little bit louder, hugging the bone tighter to his body. This human was going to take his BONE! Bitey wouldn’t let that happen!

“MY BONE!” Bitey hissed. “NO TOUCH!”

“Ok, Bitey, I won’t touch your bone.” The man gently said, giving a soft smile.

Jacob! Right, Bitey lowered his hackles and relaxed his tense body. Jacob was a friend and made great food.

“TeeVee plez?” Bitey lowered the bone to the counter and wagged his tail a few times. “Yellow zap mouse?”

“OH! That’s right, it’s time for TV.” Jacob’s face lit up and Bitey felt his soul jump in joy. “Hey, Chef, its TV time.”

“Oho! Well Now, It Certainly Is.” Another Skeleton spoke up from Jacob’s left side. Chef. “Thank You Dear Brother. It Almost Slipped My Mind With How Much I Was Enjoying Cooking Time!”

Jacob slowly reached over and laid his palm flat so Chef could claim a seat on the hand. Then he and Chef walked over to Bitey.

“YAY, teevee time!” Bitey wagged his tail more as Jacob offered his other hand. Bitey scrambled onto the platform and sat, cross-legged and wrapped his arms around Jacob’s thumb. It wasn’t easy with how tall he and Chef were, but Bitey had practiced at holding himself steady on human hands.

“What would like to watch today, Boys?” Jacob’s kind voice asked as the three of them moved to the living room area.

“POKEMON!” Bitey shouted, glaring at his brother, daring him to say anything contrary.

“I Suppose You Get The TV Choice Today, Brother, As I Chose Yesterday’s Show.” Chef shook his slender skull. “BUT! You Shall Watch A New Episode Of Pokemon!”

“AW. Bitey love zap mouse.”

“I Know Brother, But Pikachu Is In Other Episodes Too.”

“Ok.” Bitey agreed.

~~~

“Is he asleep?” Jacob leaned over and whispered to the Tall Bro Bitty sitting on his lap.

“Yes, My Dear Brother Is Asleep. If You Want Me Too, I Shall Get The Bandages And Monster Candy, Friend Jacob.” Chef sighed sadly and looked up at him. The wound Bitey had scratched open during his amnesic-episode was still bleeding sluggishly, and that worried Chef greatly.

“I have it right here, buddy, don’t worry.” A dull gray bag was pulled from under a couch-blanket and opened. “It wasn’t that bad an episode, bud. Bitey will be ok.”

Both human and Bitty took a long, care-filled gaze at the sleeping bitty in both their laps. Chef had his skeletal hands wrapped firmly around his older brother’s sleeping frame, which, regretfully enough, was nearly nude. Jacob’s strong, warm hands encompassed them both.

“He was doing so well this week; I wonder what triggered it this time?” Jacob asked as he applied a sanitizing gel on the end of a Q-tip and started gently cleaning around Bitey’s left eye-socket.

Both he and Chef knew living with Bitey was far from easy. It wasn’t like Jacob had just jumped into the situation blind. He did his research, very thoroughly, and talked to other Bitty owners to get a feel for how Pure Bites interacted with the world around them. Pure Bites always had Tall Bro Bitties paired with them; and always were adopted together. Jacob made the choice, and never regretted it. Never. Sure, Bitey made Jacob feel like tearing his hair out at times; but that’s what kids (and Bitties) did, annoyed the ever-loving crap out of their parental (human companion) figures.

But Jacob adored Bitey and Chef. He would never give them up for the world.

“I Truly Don’t Know, Friend Jacob, But I Do Hope He Gets Better.” Chef nodded solemnly. “Maybe You Should Call Miss Jazz To Tell Her Of Bitey’s Episode Since He Is With Her Tomorrow.”

Jacob smiled half-heartedly at the mention of Bitey’s ‘Bitty-sitter’. The tall, dark and scary lapine-fish monster was something else; and Jacob was ever-so-slightly terrified of the woman. Not because she was a monster; oh no, but because the black rabbit had the uncanny ability to somehow read his mind. He once asked her how she did it, and her only response was ‘Magic’.

But Bitey LOVED and adored his Bitty-sitter, and Jacob was ok with that. The lapine-monster was god-sent; suddenly showing up at his place of work one day and had curtailed a nearly disastrous event in which Bitey had taken it upon himself to be the boss of the kitchen. That day had turned into comedy gold, as the kitchen staff and some of the more curious patrons ended up witnessing a seven-foot tall monster passionately arguing with a seven-inch tiny skeleton about food. Jacob still got teased about it and every single time: it made him smile.

He had had Chef and Bitey for nearly a month and could not leave the Pure Bite home alone. Jacob learned after the second day that leaving Bitey home alone was apocalyptic. His neighbors had called the police, and the police ended up calling while he was on-shift in the kitchen, and Jacob had to cut out early to rush home. It was a scene from a horror movie; Bitey had chewed clean through the wall – in several places - and was terrorizing his poor neighbor’s daughter. Not that Bitey actually harmed anyone but being chased by an amnesic Bitty skeleton with a hole in its head while he wore a squirrel hand-puppet/plushie was terrifying.

Having Mama Jazz offer to take care of Bitey during his workdays was something he couldn’t pass over. After interviewing the black-lapine monster, Jacob gave her a trial-run; taking Bitey and Chef over to the Bitty store the rabbit-monster worked in. Bitey was obviously upset at being in a new place, but the adorable store Blueberry Bitties were ever-so helpful in making Bitey feel safe and comfortable. Mama Jazz’s own companion Bitty, Honey, stepped up to the plate and hung around Bitey, helping reinforce certain rules of Do-s and Don’ts to the Pure Bite. Honey was like a second brother to the two bitties; both often gushing praises and gratitude for the Lil Bro’s help.

Having Jazz help with Bitey gave Jacob a large piece peace of mind.

“I will Chef, later. For now, let’s just take it easy and watch some more TV, ok? A cooking show.”

“That Sounds Like An Excellent Idea, Friend Jacob!” Chef beamed and blushed when his own long, bony tail swayed back and forth a few times.

~~~

“Brother, It Is Time To Wake Up For Dinner!”

“No, more sleep plez.” Bitey grumbled sleepily at the other voice. He tried his best to burrow into the warm pillow he was on and growled a tiny growl when the fabric didn’t open into a nest.

“Lazy Bones, I Insist You Wake Up. You’ve Been Asleep The Whole Afternoon. I Will Not Let You Laze Around Any Longer.” Chef’s voice got louder. “Now Up With You And Change Into Your Clothes. Jacob Is Adding The Finishing Touches To Dinner.”

“Dinner, yummy.” Bitey pried his eye-sockets open and blearily focused on his tall brother. “Dinner time?”

“Yes, Brother, It Is Dinner Time. Friend Jacob Has Made Bacon-Bean Soup And Meat-O-Saurus Rex Pizza.”

Drool oozed from Bitey’s teeth as he sat up and lifted his arms to stretch his bone frame. Meat-O-Saurus Rex pizza was the BEST! There was bacon, chikin, beef balls, little pink shrimps, pepperoni and ham-prosciutto.

“Bro help too?” Bitey asked as Chef helped him wriggle into the clean white Bitty shirt; both carefully avoiding a fabric snag on Bitey’s head hole.

“NYEHEHEH! Of Course I Helped, Brother! As Amazing A Cook As Friend Jacob Is, The Sensational Chef Always Helps!” His brother straightened his nine-inch tall frame even taller, and thumped himself on his chest. “Besides, Cooking Is More Fun With Friends!”

“Bro is Cool!” Bitey grinned wide at his brother, dipping down to wriggle into his comfy blue shorts.

“Here Are Your Socks, Brother.” Chef held out a pair of grey socks to Bitey could put them on his toe-bones.

“Heh, Thanks Bro.” Bitey stood up, now fully dressed and ready for…Dinner! Right, it was Dinner Time and Bitey’s nasal cavity twitched upon smelling the roasted, toasted meats and steaming liquid of soups.

Following his bro off the couch and into the kitchen, Bitey focused really hard to list off which delectable foods he could smell.

Butter, bacon, brown beans, melted cheese, crispy Italian dough, melty cheese…his own drool…ham, chikin, seafood, beef…

“Good Evening, Sir Bitey, tonight’s menu included a steaming bowl of bean-bacon soup and Meat Lovers Pizza!”

Bitey cheered and, with a flex of his magic, suddenly appeared on the dining table, striding over to his chair. Chef easily climbed the set of Chef-sized bitty steps that bridged the gap from the floor to table-top.

“Since you were extra helpful today, Bitey, you get to choose your food first!” Jacob’s kind, thoughtful voice held Bitey’s attention and the skeleton grinned wide.

“Ok!” Bitey nodded and scooped up his plate to the venerable buffet that laid before him on the tabletop. A huge, shallow pot sent its delicious steamy scents of bacon, tomato-beef stock and beans directly into his face as he stood over the dish.

“Jacob great cook!” Bitey praised his live-in human chef. “Soup smell good!”

“Ahem, Dear Brother.” Chef’s chuckling voice made Bitey turn his head away from the soup pot and to his brother.

“Bro always awesome cook too!”

“Nyeheheheh. Why Thank You, Dear Brother.” Chef preened under the praise and grabbed his plate to layer with slices of home-made meat-lover’s pizza.

Bitey was drooling full force now as Jacob helped him pour the soup into his tiny bitty-bowl. He remembered something important.

“Thanks Jacob, Bro, for good food!” Bitey felt so proud of himself for remembering to give thanks for the food. Some Bitties didn’t always get regular meals, so Bitey made sure to verbally thank Jacob and Chef for the food.

“NYEHEHEHEH, You Are Very Welcome Brother.” Chef smiled brightly from his perfectly-sized Tall Bro-edition bitty-chair at their polished, brown-mahogany bitty-edition table on the normal-sized human table. (There may or may not have been a few nostalgic bite marks on both tables’ legs; but who really cared? The tables still worked.)

“You are welcome, Bitey. I am so proud of all your help today!” Jacob’s deep voice chuckled, and Bitey carefully set his bowl on the bitty table before running over to grab Jacob’s hand to plop onto his skull. His human chuckled even more and extended his fingers to rub Bitey on his skull, and the action sent Bitey clacking his tail once again.

“Bitey love Jacob!”

“Heheheh, I love you too, buddy, now go eat, you little stinker.”

“HA, Bitey no stinker, Jacob Big Stinker!” Bitey grinned at his joke and scurried back over to the soup bowl, grabbing the tiny bitty-spoon to finally dip into the steaming liquid.

~~~

Bitey stared, wide-eyed, at the bowl of French Vanilla-Bean ice-cream, chocolate-drizzle, banana and crushed peanuts in front of him. The icy cold smell of vanilla-bean and warm dark-chocolate nearly over-rode his scattery-bitty-brain. Bitey didn’t know how to approach the god-sent dessert before him. Should he just bury his face into the delectable treat? Or use his bone phalanges to just start shoveling it into his maw?

“Ahem.”

A voice caught Bitey’s attention and he looked up at his taller brother. The extremely handsome skeleton stood in front of Bitey, with his left arm extended, holding out a spoon.

“Don’t You Dare Think Of Using Your Hands As Shovels, Brother.” Chef gently chided Bitey. “Jacob Has Spoons You Know.”

“Heheheheheeeeeee.” Bitey grinned a bright smile.

His brother had caught him before Bitey could use his hands to do just that. Chef was so cool, and smart. Taking the spoon from his brother, he looked back down to the absolute tasty treat; and dug in. He tried his darnest best to get everything in the first spoonful, but alas, Bitey never could with Jacob’s best Monster sundae behemoth. The bowl alone was as long as his entire leg-bone. He stuck the spoonful of vanilla ice-cream and chocolate drizzle straight into his mouth and hummed at the splash of flavors. (behind him, his tail started wagging gently) 

“Nom Nom Good!” Bitey had to use both hands to grip the handle to wrestle his tongue – which was nearly assaulting the conclave spoon to lick every drop of flavor - for the utensil and pop it out of his mouth. 

Bitey learned several times – with very accurate, fair and one-minute-long consequences – to not eat the food utensils. Spoons, forks and knives were for helping put food in mouth, not food itself.

“Hehehe, that’s wonderful, Bitey. I’m glad you enjoy the dessert” Jacob caught Bitey’s attention as the Pure Bite Bitty sat there, wriggling in happiness over the dessert. Bitey scooped another spoonful.

“Thanks Jacob. Nom Nom cold!”

“Nyeheheheh, Brother, Do You Remember Tomorrow Is Mama Jazz Day?” Chef chuckled from Bitey’s left and his eyelight went wide, like a child on Christmas morning.

“BUNNY LADY, BUNNY LADY!” Bitey dropped his spoon, which landed in the ice-cream bowl and jumped to his feet, clapping. “Black Fluffy! Bro Honey!”

Jacob laughed at his adorable Pure Bite and nodded. “Yes, Bitey, tomorrow I work, so you get to spend the day with Mama Jazz.”

“FUN FUN! Bitey get coloring book!”

“Nyeheheh, That’s Right, Miss Jazz Did Say She Was Going To Buy You A New Coloring Book, Brother. I Wonder What Theme It Is This Time.”

“DINOSAURS!”

“No, You Finished That One, Brother. We Have It In The Living Room.” Chef gently reminded his forgetful brother.

“Awh.” Bitey looked crestfallen, sitting back down to his dessert.

“NYEH! But worry not, Dear Brother!” Chef stopped his brother from throwing a sad-party. “Miss Jazz Knows What You Like And Will Probably Get You Something Equally As Awesome As Dinosaurs!”

“Ok!” Bitey nodded, utterly trusting his dear younger brother. If Chef said Mama Jazz was going to get him a fabulously awesome new coloring book, then it would happen.

“Now Eat Your Dessert Brother, So We Can Have Cuddle Time Before Bed!”

“Cuddle Time with Pikachu?” Bitey looked at Jacob hopefully. If Bitey got anymore plushies, he’d have a complete, multi-exhibit zoo.

“Yes, Bitey, we can all cuddle with Pikachu.” Jacob laughed and dug into his own dessert.

“YAY!” Bitey cheered and turned his full focus on the delicious treat before him. Tomorrow was going to be so fun, Bitey thought, he was going to see Mama Jazz again, Mama Jazz and her companion Bitty, Honey!


	11. Spooky Scary Skeletons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Fell Sans....he's hawt

Reappearing from the void, Sans took a quick look around the field of brown, green, orange and shades in between. Dumb hick humans and their crotch goblins infested the field, going about their ignorant little lives picking orange tubers to use in whatever ways they wanted for Halloween. Not that he cared one bit; all humans could choke on pumpkins.

Taking another drag of his echo flower cig, Sans zeroed in on a flash of red and stark-white somewhere to his left. Of course, that would be Titan; the little shit insisted on treating his bones with whatever to make them gleam an ungodly shade of white. The tiny tyrant was standing on a pumpkin, shouting at some hapless woman who was kneeled and holding her hands close to her chest. Doge was sitting next to Titan, smoking his own tiny cig, peering at the same woman.

The woman, dark-brown hair and boring clothes, sat there in front of Titan, taking whatever verbal abuse the tiny tyrant was spewing. Upon a closer look, he saw the woman had a Blueberry Bitty draped on her shoulder. Go figure – Blueberries were one of the four most popular types of Bitties and made good pets for air-headed women. Sans watched for a few moments, assessing the situation, judging when to step in before things escalated. So he was pleasantly surprised when the woman reached out and flicked Titan on his skull, and pointed to another bitty in her hand. Interesting, it was an Edgy-type bitty. Hehehehe, anybody who had both a Blueberry and Edgy Bitty had to be a first-time owner or just plain ignorant. It was such an ass-pain getting those two types to get along. Sans couldn’t imagine getting along with a baby-bones Blueberry version of himself.

The look on Titan’s face as he ranted was priceless, and Sans chuckled to himself before moving in to confront the woman.

~~~

___ sat there listening to the red-clad Bitty rant and rave on how she, Stitch and Quartz were all worthless and braindead. The obnoxious skeleton went on to point out just how socially inept she was if she allowed a piece of trash Bitty like Stitch go anywhere without being collared and leashed like the dog he was. Further insults were hurled at how lame and worthless Blueberries were and how they all could dust in a great big pile of worthlessness.

Then Stitch opened his sassy mouth and to fire back insults of his own, the intensity matching what he had used to yell at the man on the wagon. She secretly was amused on just how red the other Bitty’s face was turning; the eloquent, stuffy way he verbally abused her reduced to sputters and growls. Her Redberry sure had a mouth on him and it tickled her funny-bone how he had no filters. What even was a dust-fucked-dongler?

“Ok, Stitch, I think we get the point of how much you hate this Bitty.” She clucked and gave a gentle squeeze to the skelly in her hand. Her Redberry stopped his tirade, gave her a searching look and dramatically opened his mouth to slowly place his pointy teeth on her pointer finger. Stitch then ‘bit’ (nomed) her while giving her puppy-eyes, making her giggle. SUCH A DAMN cute little Trog.

“YOU CAN GO IMPALE YOURSELF ON A RUSTY PITCHFORK, WOMAN; YOU ABSOLUTE FREAKING NOBODY.” The now thoroughly-upset red-bitty snarled to her and she drew the line there. Reaching out to flick the bitty on the skull, she spoke up for herself; only because she had felt Quartz becoming more and more distressed over how insulting the Skeleton was to her.

“Ok, that’s enough from you, little Tiny Angry Skelly. While I understand there is a conflict between you and Stitch; that is no reason for threatening to kill him or me.”

“YES, TELLING SOMEBODY TO IMPALE THEMSELVES ON SOMETHING IS TACTLESS AND VERY CRASS.” Quartz firmly stated to the Razzberry Bitty from his draped position on her right shoulder. “IT IS ALSO VERY RUDE.”

The tiny red tyrant on the pumpkin sputtered more and suddenly moved to viciously kick the lanky Pupper Bitty next to him. ___ made a startled noise in her throat and suddenly thrust her hand between the Red-clad bitty and the Pupper, which sent the aggressive tyrant tumbling off the pumpkin. Several things happened then, things that she couldn’t fully process in her brain.

Quartz launched himself off her shoulder to land on top of a tall, turquoise-aura-ed wall of bones that suddenly appeared between her crouched form and the pumpkin. Her Blueberry bristled on the bone-wall, both teal-gloved hands firmly gripped around a single bone scythe which glowed a bright teal.

The Pupper Bitty went full-rabid wombat on the hand she used to protect him from other bitty’s kick, savagely biting and clawing her skin; instantly drawing blood. She shrieked in pain.  
Stitch began laughing his guts out at the Red-clad skeleton who had fallen in the dirt before it turned into something along the lines of vicious snarling when hearing her shriek. He wriggled like a hellcat to get out of her firm grip to get to her other hand and the strange Bitty.

Skittles’ weight suddenly left her scarf and the floating feeling that held her attacked hand shocked her enough to just simply let go of Stitch.

Once her hand released him, her little Trog went full attack-mode, knocking the skeleton off her hand and driving several thin bones through the Bitty’s torso, pinning him to the top of the pumpkin.

“FUCKIN’ ENOUGH!” a voice behind her roared.

She, her three Bitties and the two other Skeletons were engulfed in a crimson haze and lifted off the ground a few inches. Nobody moved. Stitch froze mid lunge, his sharp teeth so awfully close to shearing the Pupper’s spine from skull, Quartz was still in full-defense mode, bone-scythe out and glowing teal underneath the red haze. Skittles was next to Quartz, standing tall and both his hands out – to do what, ___ didn’t know. The sudden burning from her hand had over-ridden her brain and she desperately wanted nothing more than to bring her hand to her chest to stop the pain.

“Titan, Doge, put yer damn fuckin’ collars on now.” A dark voice snarled from behind her. Two small somethings were tossed from behind her and landed on the pumpkin next to the two other Bitties. The crimson haze which surrounded her, Skittles, Quartz and Stitch moved them away from the two angry skeletons before vanishing. She fell the tiny distance to land on the ground.

___ immediately started crying. It hurt…it hurt so bad; her hand was on fire. It was so much worse than any cat or dog scratches. She felt the sliced skin-flaps pull apart when she tried to flex. Gross, Gross, Ew, NO…she was gonna freak out…she hated that sensation…

“GODDESS!”

“Lady, are you ok!?”

“Pun-kin! Ah shite-balls, I’m so sorry, Pun-kin. Sorry, sorry, sooo sorry…”

Looking down through tear-blurred eyes, she saw Quartz, Skittles and Stitch crowding around her knees, trying desperately to climb up to her hand. Stitch was quickly stripping out of his clothes and holding them up to her. Skittles did the same thing after a moment’s pause, and Quartz was beginning to cry himself.

“Hold on, Pun-kin, put dese on yer hand, and press down.”

“Curious Lady, PLEASE, PLEASE lower your hand so we can heal it!” She never heard Skittles sound so desperate before.

“G-G-GODDESS GOT HURT AND IT’S ALL MY FU-FAULT.” Quartz blubbered.

As much as she wanted to keep her bleeding hand to her chest, something in her was DETERMINED to lower it to her Bitties. Inhaling a deep, pain-shaky breath, ___ lowered her hand to her lap. Like a disturbed nest of ants, Stitch, Skittles and Quartz scrambled around her hand to start pressing the bitty clothes to the bites and slashes.

“Please, Sweetheart, its ok t’ cry. I know it hurts, just let us take care O’ ya.” Stitch’s bold voice told her. “That’s it, Angel-cake, hold yer hand still.”

“That’s good, Lady, just…don’t move.” Skittles’ sentiment echoed his brother’s and used his grey hoodie to wipe away to dripping blood from her fingertips. “Bro, BRO, FOCUS, ya need to use your healing magic to heal that spot right there. FOCUS, BRO!”

“O-O-OKAY, BRO-BRO-BROTHER. I C-CAN DO THAT.” Quartz gently hovered over the base of her middle finger and lowered his hands to a particularly bloody gash. “ST-STAY STILL, GODDESS, PLEASE…PLEASE DON’T LET ME FUDGE THIS UP.”

“Heh, la-la-language, Qu-quartz.” ___ managed to hiss out between her choking sobs. God, her hand hurt so much…why did the Pupper attack her like that? He looked so chill and harmless. She was only trying to stop the other bitty from kicking him…nobody should be kicked like that; Skeleton Bitty or no.

So much…burning, stinging pain… ___ slumped over and felt herself sway towards the pumpkin in front of her. Heh, her head was gonna go bonk.

~~~

Sans was shocked when Doge went fuck-crazy on the woman’s hand for simply nudging Titan off the pumpkin. His crimson eyes went wide before his brain used enough cells to tell him to fuckin act before the woman lost her hand.

“FUCKIN’ ENOUGH!” Sans roared and let flood his magic, catching Doge, Titan, the woman and her three attack-mode bitties. Stepping closer, he pulled out the two magic-restraining collars from his coat pocket and tossed them at Doge.

“Titan, Doge, put yer damn fuckin’ collars on now.”

Turning his eyes to the woman and her bitties, he gently separated her group and set them on the ground a few feet away. The last thing Sans needed was for Doge to get triggered again and make an already bad situation worse. The shit he would catch from his ass-hat brother if tomorrow’s newspaper headlines featured: Vicious Bitty Attack at Farm – Woman Loses Hand.

Watching for a few seconds as her bitties scurried around her in panic-mode, Sans made sure the woman was distracted before squatting down to look Doge and Titan dead in the eyelights.

“Yer done fucked up, Doge. Titan.”

“IT WAS NOT MY FAULT, YOU SNIVELING BONE-BAG. SHE WAS THE ONE WHO PUSHED ME OFF THE PUMPKIN.” Titan had clamored back up the pumpkin and glared at Sans. “MUTT WAS JUST DEFENDING ME.” Nothing was ever Titan’s fault…damned narcissistic bastard.

“…” Doge had nothing to say as he stared blankly at the black bitty-collar he was holding.

“PUT IT ON NOW, Or Ah’ll break both yer arms and leave ‘em for Boss t’ heal.” Sans threatened. “Ah would very much like ta d’ that anyway, ya shit stains.”

“MUTT, PUT THE COLLAR ON.” Titan stood tall and busied himself dusting off his now-dirty clothes.

“Yes, M’Lord.” Doge didn’t even flinch when he brought the magic-restraining collar up to his neck vertebra and let it snap shut. The Mutt shuddered when the collar restrained his flow of magic.

“Ya too, ya fuckin’ waste of my time.” Sans shoved Titan’s collar at him.

“WHY?! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG!” Still in denial.

“Yea, yea, tell that t’ Boss when Ah tell him ya were talkin’ shit t’ a random woman.”

“I REFUSE! THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS WILL ALWAYS TAKE MY SIDE.”

“Tch, fine, have it yer way.” Sans grabbed Titan, maneuvering the bitty’s left arm away from his body and between his two much-larger bone phalanges. “Last warnin’.”

It was a damn good thing Titan opted to stare at larger skeleton with the bitterest, most hate-filled look in his tiny eyelights and not utter a single sound. Had the shit-stain talked back; Sans would have gladly snapped Titan’s arm like a toothpick – prototype or not.

Titan opened his palm and Sans dropped the collar in it, letting the other arm go so the Bitty could put the collar on. With a snap, the collar clicked around Titan’s neck and made the bitty shiver as his magic was cut off. Good; now to deal with the woman. Sans prayed to the Stars she would be pain-hazed enough to not fuckin’ bite his head off for the Bitty attack.

“GODDESS! PLEASE, DON’T PASS OUT NOW, YOU NEED TO OPEN YOUR EYES!”

Sans turned around and cursed as he saw the woman sway and fall forward. He flicked his phalanges and captured her in a crimson haze again before standing up and stepping over to her.

“GET AWAY FROM MY PUN-KIN, YA MASSIVE BONE-PRICK!” The tiny Edgy growled very fiercely from the woman’s lap. Sabs grimaced at the sight.

Three bitties were hovering around her hand, and all three of them were smeared with her blood. The Edgy was shirt-less, and his tiny skeletal arms and rib-cage were covered in red as his hands were busy pushing his bitty-clothes against his owner’s hand.

“C’mon Bro, you gotta focus!” a sickly looking Lil Bro was next to the Edgy, mimicking the Edgy in pushing his grey-now-red hoodie against her fingers. The taller skeleton looked greyer and greyer by the moment.

“GODDESS, PLEASE, HOLD ON. ITS NOT THAT BAD, JUST SCRATCHES AND A FEW BITE MARKS!” The loud, steady voice of the third tiny skeleton, the Blueberry, begged the woman. He was kneeled firmly on her bleeding palm, knees and hands coated with her blood. His phalanges glowed teal as the Blueberry’s healing magic was in use. Huh, isn’t Blueberry Bitty magic supposed to be a soft sky-blue instead of a vibrant turquoise?

“Uh, look, little shi-…little dudes…” Sans began forming a sentence. “Ah got monster food if ya need extra healin’ help.”

“Fuck off, turd-blossom!” The Edgy snarled again, turning his blood-red eyelights up to Sans. “Ya ‘helped’ enough, jizz-dribbler. Go fuck ya-self wit a shovel!”

He chuckled at the viciousness of the Edgy; his kinda buddy. He decided. He leaned down and scooped up the woman, holding her bridal-style. Sans damn-neared dropped her as the electric shock of recognition crawled over his bones and arrowed into his Soul.

No Fuckin’ Way. Fuck him ten ways into the Void. Impossible. This was NOT happening.

Sans refused to believe it would be **THAT** fucking easy to find his soul-mate. He figured he’d either A. Not have one because he was a shit-stain on the earth, or B. Had to beg, simp and degrade himself to some over-glorified playboy bunny _~~sluttygolddigger~~ _of a woman to even earn the time of day only to ultimately be rejected because he was a monster.

HE never would have thought in a million years that he would find his soulmate in some back-water hick-town’s pumpkin patch. The universe was splitting its guts laughing at him.

Looking closer at her face, he began to memorize every single detail. For starters, her roundish face was scrunched up in pain – the sickeningly adorable way her dark eyebrows furrowed to make a tiny moue. The skin on her face wasn’t perfect or flawless, nor was there any speck of make-up which other women would just slather on. A few darker spots (beauty-marks) on the edge of her creamy, tanned cheeks gave her face character. Her eyes were currently tear-logged, so he couldn’t get a clear read on her ‘baby-blues’, but from what Sans could see, they were greens and browns. He lifted his free phalanges to gently brush a tear from her plush lips. He wondered what she would taste like with tear-spiced lips…

“GET YER PERVERTED HANDS OFF ‘ER, YA TWISTED BONE-FUCK! GIVE ME BACK MA PUN-KIN!”

The tiny, angry voice cut through Sans’ mental haze, as did the painful bites of a terrorizing Bitty. He looked down to see her Edgy Bitty viciously biting his left tibia bone and shoe.

“Eh, cut it out, ya lil’ shite.” Sans snarled and flexed his left leg to shake the Bitty. “Ah’m tryin’ t’ help ‘er!”

“FUCKIN’ LIAR! I SEE TH’ WAY YER LOOKIN’ AT ‘ER! SHE AIN’T YERS, YA OVER-GROWN CALCIUM SHITE-BALL!”

“BROTHER, LANGUAGE, PLEASE, IF THIS MONSTER CAN HELP, PLEASE LET HIM HELP.” The Blueberry was trying its best to stop the Edgy from tearing into Sans’s tibia, but failed at de-latching the shark-tight grip of the Edgy’s teeth. Behind them, the Lil Bro didn’t look so good; the normal cream-white of a healthy bitty turning into an ashen grey. Fuck trying to reassure these little shits, the woman in his arms needed to be healed before the other dumb-hick humans started getting nosy. Her Lil Bro didn’t look so good either, Sans wouldn’t let the Bitty dust if he was hers. She’d be heart-broken.

Sans gently placed her wounded hand on her stomach. His eye flared crimson and the three little bitties floated up to join her hand. The Edgy was snarling like something rabid, the Lil Bro looked ready to pass out, and the Blueberry started wringing his tiny bone hands in worry.

“Look, Ah’ll get ‘er all healed up so there’s no damage, ok?” Sans didn’t wait for an answer. “Titan, Doge, C’mere.”

The two other bitties stepped up and Sans used his crimson magic to stuff them into his coat pockets; not the most dignified way to ride for Titan, but Sans didn’t give two shits. He had a soulmate to take care of.

Sans again teleported.


	12. What the Soul Wants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> updated, enjoy.
> 
> I hope I made the tension good enough to be...hehehehe fun.
> 
> Once again, thank you for the comments, kudos and reads! Comments fuel my addiction...heh

Doge meandered among the various pumpkins that dotted the land as far as his eight-inch-tall frame could see; avoiding being stepped on by other clueless humans and their shorter spawns. Not that avoiding humans was that difficult, in fact it was quite easy with his teleportation powers. He loved that he had them, otherwise the menial task of walking everywhere would drive him crazy. He was supremely lazy like that.

But now, he just took the moment to enjoy the slow, rambling strides among the vegetation, letting the crisp autumn breeze gently caress his bony frame. Finding a particularly large pumpkin, he teleported to the top and slid into a lazy horizontal position, propping his skull in his left phalanges. Doge brought his other hand up to flick two phalanges to produce a tiny pale-orange flame of which he lit his tiny bitty cigarette from. His mind wandered way back.

Having been suddenly brought to sentient awareness from whatever darkness had laid beyond the veil of the Living, Doge had been terrified of the world for the few seconds of animalistic-blank-mindedness. Then a red-hot spear of strength and overwhelming familiarity arrowed into his soul and he reached out his bony phalanges to be met by a similar, smaller hand. His older brother. The shocking onset of suddenly Being, made his brain whirl and spin, and Doge clung to his older brother’s hand like a lifeline. The way Titan had stood firm and fearless in the face of utter confusion and suddenness of life, not to mention the crazy scientist lizard who proclaimed to be their maker; Doge had been ever loyal to his older brother.

He and his brother, who claimed the name Titan; spent the next few weeks in the laboratory, being poked and prodded by the crazy yellow dinosaur of a woman – running through the gauntlet of tests to measure their soul energy, their magical output and over-all health. During that time, Doge had used his lazy-disguised tenacity to learn about the world in order to better protect his brother from the dangers a giant-ruled world presented. He and his brother were the last in a series of skeleton-based companions made for the hairless apes of the planet. Doge met others like him, the prototypes, and learned their names.

First, there were the first prototypes, the classic pair: Sansy and Papy. The Sansy, who went by the name Ketchup, was a ninny. Ketchup was lazy, pun-loving, able to teleport and his energy level was low, just like Doge. His brother, a Papy, went by the name of Cinnamon. The taller younger brother was energetic, positive and had the life-goal of being everybody’s friend.

Then there were the Swap brothers, the Lil Bro who went by the name Snoozer. Doge liked Snoozer because the Lil Bro was so much like him; lazy, pun-loving and absolutely dedicated to keeping his brother safe. Snoozer’s brother, Hero, was the Blueberry Bitty and was the most annoying skeleton of the bunch. It was like taking Titan, turning on the kid-friendly filter and pouring a gallon of sugar into his mouth and letting him loose in a ball-pit: hyper, energetic, WAY too much positivity, cheer and friendless. The exact opposite of Titan.

Thirdly, there were the Fell types, Boss and Edgy. The Boss Bitty, who went by the name Captain, was like a swapped body-version of Titan; strict, all-attitude and expected to be obeyed at all costs. Captain’s brother, the Edgy type, was a pudgy, shark-toothed version of Ketchup; but with a much snarkier attitude and a perverted flirt-streak a mile wide. The Edgy said his name was Lady’s Man – but nobody called him that. Captain had called the Edgy by either Lackey, or Crimson.

Captain and Crimson had lorded it over the rest of them only because they were modeled straight from the source, a pair of skeleton brother monsters. That made sense because the two tiny versions looked exactly like the tall monsters Doge had seen once or twice in the lab; right down to the black markings of scars, cuts and divots on the bones. Lackey was so much fun to tease because of his black freckles; but his brother, Captain, had two, wicked-black slashes down both eye sockets.

Then there were the softer versions of him and his brother; the Fellswaps, Blackberry and Pupper. The Blackberry Bitty, Lorde, was like Titan, but favored purple clothing instead of reds, and had a much more open-mindedness that oft made for fierce fights with his brother. Then there was a softer version of him, a Pupper named Wiggles.

Doge pitied Wiggles, because the Pupper was nearly a dead-ringer for Doge, only not nearly as deadly or as dedicated to protecting his brother. Sure, both versions of the Fellswap/Swapfell Papys were similar; Wiggles cared more about getting out of tight situations by falling asleep. Doge would never do that to his brother – he would dust before he chose sleep over his brother.

Once Doge had gathering and reported all his findings to his brother, Titan rewarded him with a pack of bitty-cigarettes. He was ecstatic that his brother had given him something on a spy-job well done! ( _Doge still had that pack, with the last remaining cigarette within sitting in his inventory. A treasure beyond worth._ )

Then, after a few more weeks in the stale, boorish lab, he and his brother had been given – along with Captain and Crimson – to the two skeletons brothers of whom all the Bitties were modeled after. Captain and Crimson had gone with the taller skeleton brother, whose name was the Great and Terrible Papyrus; while he and Titan had been shuffled off to the shorter, lazier brother, Sans.

That was two years ago, and Doge couldn’t have asked for a different life. Sure it sucked, being only eight-inches tall in a world full of titans, but he had his Brother, and that was all he needed.

“MUTT, TO ME.” The urgent, flaring call of his brother’s magic over their soul-connection brought Doge back to the here and now, and he teleported instinctively.

He reappeared on a pumpkin, slouched down to be lower than Titan – not that he would ever be shorter than his older brother, but it was the attempt that counted. Shoving eight-inches of lanky bone into six and three-quarters inches was mathematically impossible.

“You called, M’lord?” he subjugated himself to his brother; taking a shot of his tiny bitty cigarette and exhaling.

Using his sandy-orange eyelights to scan the area for any immediate threats, and finding none, Doge turned to a small bitty on the ground. It was an Edgy-type bitty; the tiny skeleton wearing a black jacket over a red shirt paired with black sports shorts and red ratty shoes. The Edgy was nothing like Crimson, because there were no black freckles, and the golden tooth was on the wrong ( _right_ ) side of its mouth. The thing was young, and from the lack of scars and nicks on its bones, led a sheltered life.

“THIS THING DARES TO INTERRUPT MY SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT PUMPKIN. GET RID OF IT.” His brother motioned to the other bitty like it was a piece of trash.

“As you wish, M’lord.” Doge bowed once and teleported to the ground to stand in front of the Edgy Bitty.

“Tch, ya as whipped as they come, ain’t cha, bitch.” The Edgy bitty spat at him. Doge chuckled. “I’ve seen scarier things in mah shit, ya bone-bag.” Well, the thing had the same mouth on it as Crimson did.

“Is that so?” Doge simply asked as he removed his furred, heavy hood from his skull. “How about now?”

It brought Doge a twisted kind of joy when the other bitty’s bony brows twitched and his eyelights widen in surprise. The Mutt could only imagine what his Halloween-decorated skull looked like to the other bitty. He had begged and groveled to his brother to use a bit of the same Halloween make-up their keeper, Sans, was using for their haunted house gig. He wanted to expend SOME energy getting into the spooky season that sent the giant flesh-bags into a tizzy with mean-spirited pranks and candy. Humans were stupid with how spooked they got with skeletons.

“Like what you see?” He reached up to lazily remove the bitty-cigarette from his shark-toothed maw, blowing out a plume of orange smoke. “It’s shocking, isn’t it? To see a bitty-skull like this.”

“No skin off my teeth, ya fuckin’ trash-bag.” The shorter Edgy stepped closer to him. Brave or very stupid. “I guess I’ll just have ta finish the job and smash that pathetic skull of yers inta dust.”

“Try.” Doge quipped back.

“MUTT, STOP PLAYING AND DISPOSE OF IT.” His brother demanded, cutting short his fun of getting under the Edgy’s skin.

“Of course, M’lord.” Doge nodded before summoning two orange-aura-ed bones and swung them down to smash the other Bitty’s skull in.

Doge smiled a tiny smile as the Edgy slid left and brought up his own bone clubs, which oddly enough were ribboned in red AND blue magic. Oho, very interesting; Doge thought. There was more to this Edgy Bitty than met the eye. Doge dodged the wall of red bone spears and leapt backwards as he sensed the ground mere moments before it erupted into needle-pointed bones. He landed low and jettisoned himself to head-butt the Edgy in the soft stomach. Giving the other tiny skeleton no time to recollect himself, Doge fell onto the other bitty, kneeling on its chest and aiming a bone-spear straight at its soul.

Then the obviously younger Bitty did something that surprised Doge, because, even though the Edgy had dropped his arms to his sides in surrender, the amount of magic Doge felt as he barely managed to avoid being skewered was inspiring. The Edgy was a spitfire for sure, as the armored-shell of needle-point bones encased the other skeleton was startling and ingenious. Something in the back of Doge’s mind was niggling at him…he had seen this shell of bones before…but from where?

“What is going on over here? Stitch?!” a melodic woman’s voice cut through the tension and Doge lowered his killing arm.

“HALT, MUTT.” His brother snapped his phalanges and Mutt dropped everything to teleport back to his side, slouching again and pulling out another cigarette, lighting the stick as it was in transit to his pointy teeth.

Doge quickly flung up his furred hood and lowered his eyes, so the human woman walking up wouldn’t pester him for nearly killing her bitty. Pfft, it wasn’t like she couldn’t go out and buy another one anyway. Edgys weren’t that expensive to begin with. Glancing up, Doge exhaled the ‘lungful’ of the black-pine resin smoke. Damn, this lady was cute. He wondered if she put out for Bitties. Maybe he could convince her to service him and Titan. That plush mouth of hers would be useful.

Somebody was growling at him and Doge grinned, knowing he was once again getting under the Edgy’s skin by looking at the woman like he was. His brother’s voice caught his attention and Doge just let it flow over him. Titan was giving a scathing lecture to the woman and her three bitties. Heh, his brother was so knowledgeable on how Edgy Bitties should be collared like the pieces of shit they were.

Something was said to trigger his brother and he moved his arms to gladly receive the vicious kicks he knew were on the way. Except something blocked his brother’s immaculate boot, and Doge’s mind blanked out in animalistic fury as he felt his brother tumble into the dirt, taking a fraction of damage. He attacked the fleshy wall that had dared to harm his brother.

The Edgy attacked him again and the scene stopped, as their keeper, Sans, had frozen them all with his crimson magic.

“FUCKIN’ ENOUGH! Titan, Doge, put yer damn fuckin’ collars on now.” Ooh Sans sounded livid. He paused a moment to come back to himself, and Doge knew he fucked up.

Two small collars were tossed and landed on the pumpkin next to him. Doge shivered internally as he KNEW what the tiny ring of black leather meant. It was a punishment for when he or Titan did something bad. It was created by the yellow dino-woman to inhibit magic. But due to concerns of the hairless-apes’ penchant for misusing something so powerful, it was never released to the public. Only the Royal Guard had the magic-blocking collars to use on bitties that got…out of control.

Like right now. Doge stared blankly at the collar and automatically moved to clip it around his neck as his brother barked out his orders. He now was effectively defenseless, unable to summon bones or teleport his brother away from danger. Sparing a glance at the woman whose hand he went hay-wire on, Doge felt guilty as she looked so close to freaking out over the bites and lacerations he inflicted. Her INTENT to hurt his brother was non-existent, and she was most likely trying to stop Titan from abusing him. It wasn’t Titan’s fault she didn’t know how their sibling dynamics worked.

Being picked up and shoved into a musty, mustardy-smelling pocket, Doge shrugged and curled around his brother, and fell asleep.

~~~

Sans stared down, with lazily fluctuating eye-lights, to the angel resting on his lap. Staring as though if he blinked, she might be gone forever. His trembling soul was still reeling from the fact his soulmate was just…here – with him, sleeping softly on his lap. He still couldn’t believe such a short little human would be HIS soulmate. She was tiny, barely even five-foot! How’d she survive for so long being that tiny!? ( _the damned brat Frisk was about the same height and she hadn’t gotten out of her teenage years yet._ ) Sans exhaled in a shaky wonder, slowly bringing his bony fingers to card through her dark-chocolate colored hair once again, letting his mind drift back to the prior eight minutes.

Once he had secured Her, her trio of bitties and his two shit-stains, he left the pumpkin patch behind and reappeared in the room the farm let him use to ‘dress-up’ for the haunted house gig. He hated to admit it, but Papyrus’s fierce argument for him to have at least a tiny room to use during the day at the farm was now a blessing. It wasn’t much; an inside room, carpeted, with pale maroon-colored walls and enough space to provide a long couch, a small card-table, a wall mirror next to some shelving and a folding metal chair that had seen better days. ( _Kudos for that brat Frisk making huge strides for Monster rights and creating common grounds for both hick-humans and half-distrustful monsters._ ) Sans had gently placed his soulmate on the worn grey couch and then turned to deal with her fiercely protective Blueberry AND Edgy bitties. The damned Edgy wouldn’t fucking stop biting him whenever Sans got too close to her and the Blueberry did its best to play peacemaker while keeping a watchful eye on him and the Lil Bro Bitty.

The Lil Bro, Skittles, had promptly fell into a deep sleep and Sans had to give a monster candy to the Blueberry – Blue Quartz – when the tiny skeleton explained that Skittles was so close to dusting. The tiny teal skeleton then gnashed the candy into bits and spat it down the Lil Bro’s throat; much to Sans’s reluctant ( _and grossed out_ ) awe. While those two Bitties were occupied, Sans had to turn his focus to the nearly-rabid Edgy, Stitch, and tried bargaining with him to heal his soulmate’s hand.

Round and round they went for a minute – Sans making moves towards her hand and Stitch blocking all his attempts to be helpful. Finally, he had fucking enough and pulled out another damned collar to snap on the Edgy Bitty and wrestle him into a cage. Sans never heard anything curse that vehemently, viciously, colorfully, or threateningly at him before – not even during his time Underground. ( _Sans was- ~~nt~~ impressed._)

After taking care of her over-the-top-protective Edgy, Sans quickly turned to her hand, and clasped it firmly between his bony digits. ( _fuck him with a rod if her small, smooth hands were dwarfed by his chipped phalanges and fit perfectly in his._ ) Running on frantic, magic-adrenaline Sans dug deep and pushed past the dusty cobwebs of his magic to find that green-sliver of healing magic he and his brother possessed. He didn’t care her blood was making a mess on his bones; and pushed back the fact the red, iron-rich liquid slammed into his nasal cavity like a jack-hammer and wafted into his mind like Nirvana. Sans felt the sweat start to drip off his skull as he finally focused enough to spark that healing sliver into action, and sent it swirling around her injured hand.

Sans held his breath as the pale green mist settled around her soft hand and slowly started knitting the damage done by Doge. Crimson eyelights locked onto each cut and bite as the punctures came together, the skin healing enough to staunch the flow of blood and keep the sacred life-giving liquid in her hand.

It had taken all but two minutes to dig deep to find his healing magic, pull it out of its dusty, unused place and send it to work healing her precious, soft hand. Sans felt exhausted after the last, and deepest wound finally closed. Doge’s claws had most likely injured nerves of her middle finger, and that thought alone sent Sans growling darkly – ( _blanking out the hazy fact he might have seen bone_ ). He gently tested each of her fingers, reverently holding each tip between his phalanges and moving them up and down, then side to side. When she didn’t respond with anything to signal pain or distress, he FINALLY exhaled and slumped on the narrow space remaining on the couch.

The sound of crying had alerted him to her two other Bitties. Sans had Mercy and stood up to remove the Edgy from the cage and set it couch cushion near her face, removing the collar. Her two conscious Bitties had been very distressed and promptly swarmed over her hand, inspecting it for any damage. The Edgy Bitty had stared at him, flabbergasted, as he and the Blueberry saw that her hand was healed and not bleeding. Sans growl-muttered half-assed answers as the…as Stitch demanded answers.

Whatever it was Sans had answered with, calmed the bitties down enough to huddle around her chest, pulling the now-sleeping Lil Bro into a bone-pile to sleep. Her trio of bitties, despite the situation and the Edgy’s obvious distrust and animosity towards Sans, slowly drifted to sleep. Whatever kind of day they had; the tiny skeletons were very tired. Sans chuckled as he yanked out a towel from the shelves and bundled the trio of skeletons up before wrapping his Soulmate’s free arm around them and draped his heavy coat over the four of them.

Which brought him to the here and now – sitting on the couch with her lovely little head resting on his lap. He absent-mindedly played with her silky dark-brown hair and softly traced the skin on her cheek. The amount of calm and serenity Sans now felt was shocking and he craved more. Was this what it felt like to find your soulmate? An obscene amount of warm-fuzzies paired with the surprising amount of calm besieging his soul? That old fucker Gerson had once told a story about soulmates, and Sans never believed him. Until now.

Sans felt her shift on his lap and give off a single, out-of-the-blue laugh. WHAT THE HELL!? The music of that laugh sent his soul clenching tight. Did…did she just sleep-laugh?! Now having both his widened eye-lights locked onto her face, his breath caught in his throat, Sans wanted to hear it again. What the hell was going on in her brain that made her laugh out loud when she was obviously passed out!!?

Seconds ticked by and she did nothing. Then she shifted and drew her knees closer, scoop-hugged her towel-nested Bitties closer to her chest and hummed.

OH SWEET STARS ABOVE! SHE WAS NUZZLING HIS PELVIC BONES!

Sans never felt his magic shoot straight down in a raging boner that fast. The speed of the magic-boner left him feeling dizzy. Either he could stay RIGHT were he was and lose control of his raging hot boner and fuck her straight through the couch or he could teleport the fuck away. Sans chose.

~~~

Coming slowly to the state of sleep-heavy consciousness, ____ became aware of things one by one. First and foremost, something warm and heavy pressed down on her shoulder and torso. Not heavy enough to be threatening, no, but just enough pressure to be comforting – like a thick, thick comforter on a bed. The scent of mustard and pine resin was strong in her nose, which made it twitch. Next was the sensation of her head petting petted with something gently running through her hair. Hhhmmm that felt niiiice. She loved hair-pets to the point that she would take it from anyone who was smart enough to touch her like that. Third thing she registered was the amount of warmth cushioning her head; like a tiny space-heater. ( _Stitch made a joke about how She was SO much hotter than the space heater and she barked out a laugh._ )

It was the laugh that started her upward spiral to full alertness, and she scooped up the white blob in front of her chest. Stitch’s little skull was peeking out of the fabric and ___ hummed, nuzzling into the warmth her face was resting on. The pillow-warmth shifted into a condensed area, almost turning hotter and she opened her eyes at the same time the ‘pillow’ vanished.

“Huh!?” ____ sat up suddenly and quickly gazed around the room. Yes, she was in a room, inside and not in a pumpkin patch. STITCH! Quartz and Skittles! Where were they!? Looking down to find a circle-scrunched towel with her three bitties snuggled up within, she sighed relieved.

Seeing her three skellies were safe, her brain caught up and distinctly noticed the lack of pain from her hand. Didn’t something shred it earlier? Bringing her hand up to her face and inspecting it for signs of injury, ___ blinked in confusion. There was nothing there!?

“He healed you, Lady.” A husky, ragged voice broke her concentration and her eyes locked onto a tall bitty sitting on a small, wooden table in front of the couch she was sitting on. It was the Pupper Bitty from before. ___ whined and pushed herself further back into the grey couch. Was it going to attack her again? Oh please, don’t…she didn’t want to hurt a bitty.

“MUTT, DON’T TALK TO HER. ITS OBVIOUS SHE’S AFRAID OF YOU NOW.” The other red-clad tyrant bitty was sitting in front of the mirror…as was another skeleton. She froze.

If anyone had told her that monster kind would include towering, terrifying skeletons that looked like something from a Lovecraftian horror story, ___ would have scoffed and told them they were crazy. Everybody knew monsters were anthropomorphic beasts with skin, guts and inside stuff. ( _Deeper in her mind, it only made sense that there were Skeleton monsters, where-else would the tiny skeleton Bitties come from?_ ) His skull was round and rugged, as if molded from a single piece of clay. It didn’t quiet look like a human skull as it seemed heavier and thicker, but the similarities were certainly there. Despite the rounded cast to it, the cuts and divots made the piece of bone look fierce, rough and like the owner didn’t give shits if it came to a throw-down brawl.

“Titan, shut th’ fuck up.” His voice was deep, gravelly and…holy fuck did it hit her voice-kink hard. The tenor and pitch of it fit his massive size perfectly.

Tearing her eyes away from the tiny red bitty to the reflection in the mirror, she blushed as the much larger skeleton’s own eyelights flickered back. The color of his eyes were darker than the tyrant’s clothes, but just as rich a crimson – reminding her strongly of thick, glowing lava. The black backdrop surrounding his lava-ic eyes made the crimson stand out even more. She felt her jaw slacken as her own eyes continue to study the massive skeleton monster sitting in front of her. It was obvious this skeletal beast could break her in half without breaking a sweat…did skeletons sweat?

Before it registered in her mind, she cut the distance between them in half. Her curiosity was getting the better of her once again, and sent her hands reaching out in rudeness.

“Uh…sorry…”

“Dun worry ‘bout it, sweetheart.” He replied, eye-lights unblinking and still locked on her via mirror and bone hands clasped under the weight of his skinless jawbone. Doing her best to study the front of his face via mirror, she noticed the jagged crack starting right over his left eye and ran down that area until stopping at the base his teeth. Another surprise was the smattering of black spots under and around his nasal cavity – like somebody had taken a paintbrush and flicked it over his face.

Standing like a complete dork in the room, ___ wasn’t sure what to do next.

“Uh…I think…your freckles are cute…” She stuttered out the first compliment that her brain dredged up. STUPID! STUPID! Scary Skeleton monsters should not be called cute, even if they had black freckles.

Her own eyes widened as he turned around, a look of shock plainly sitting on his face. ___ stepped back when she saw the front version of his face. It was equally as impressive from the front. Oh cheese on a cracker, his teeth were certainly larger than anything she’d ever seen. Like Stitch, the massive mandibles of the skeleton monster held equally large shark-teeth, triangular and sturdy; with his left canine being some sort of polished black substance - onyx, obsidian, or black metal - which went in line with the crack running down the left side of his face. Man, whatever thing was dumb enough to attack this Skeleton monster enough to knock a tooth out...she did not want to meet.

“Um…sorry.” This was how she was going to die – calling a skeleton monster who was obviously used to terrorizing kids in their sleep cute. “You…probably don’t want to be called cute.”

He stared blankly at her for a few silent seconds before bursting into laughter – a laughter robust enough to send him falling out of the chair and pounding the floor with his bony fist.

“HOLY SHITE, Sweetheart, yer somethin’ else!” the skeleton wheezed out between laughs. “Out of all de things Ah thought ya say, dis takes th’ cake!”

The sound of his voice now that he used it for more than a few words was…bone-shivering – in a very-good way. She had a weakness for accents and his rough, slang-dialect was so much fun to listen to. But now he was laughing at her and she felt her face go red.

“Uh, well, escuuuuse me princess. I didn’t know what to say to you cuz you were sitting there all scary and brooding.” She snarked back, looking away from the laughing turd-ball. Suddenly, she wasn’t so afraid of this skeleton – more like annoyed. “Turd.”

“Awh, dun be like dat, sweetheart.” The massive skeleton slowed his laughing and looked up at her, brushing red magic from his eye sockets. He got up to his feet and stood up, moving closer to her. ___ took a step back to look up at him. Yup, he was taller than her by at least a foot.

“I’m Sans; C. Sans the Skeleton.” His demeanor changed from scary and brooding to jovial and goofy as his large bony digits extended out for a handshake. “What’s yer name, doll-face?”

“Uh, I’m _____, the human.” She met his gaze before slowly reaching out to clasp his hand. Sans looked harmless enough after showing he could laugh with gusto like that. Sans’ sharp grinned turned into a shit-eater as she felt something cold and foamy slap against her hand.

“WHAT THE HELL!?” ___ yanked her hand back and lo and behold, it was covered in shaving cream. Sans’ laughter busted loose again as he doubled over with glee.

“Ah man, the ol’ shaving cream in the palm trick! It never gets old!”

“YOU…YOU ABSOLUTE FART MONKEY!” She shouted back making him laugh harder and proceeded to wipe her hand on his skull, getting rid of the shaving cream. “What are you a frickin kid or something, geez…” Oh yea, it was a clever move ( _white cream on a white-bony hand_ ), but she wouldn’t let him know it.

“Aw, darlin’, Ah dun mean nuthin by it.” Sans still chuckled and rubbed the cream off his skull.

“Tch, yea, I bet you didn’t, you immature kid.” She glared at the tall comedic skeleton.

“MAMA?” Quartz’s voice interrupted them and ___ turned to her towel-nested skellies.

“Hey Quartz.”

“MAMA! You’re Awake!” Her sleepy little Blueberry was utterly adorable sitting there in the towel, rubbing his teal eyes trying to wake up.

“Yup, I’m up, my little crystal. How’re you doing?” Moving over to the couch and scooping up her Blueberry to cup against her chest, she lightly rubbed his tiny sleepy skull. “I see all three of you are snoozies.”

“Heh, Yea, We Had A Big Scare When You Got Hurt, Mama.” Quartz responded slowly, nuzzling her fingers while fighting off a big yawn. Man, he must be super tired if he was calling her Mama. SO CUTE! “Skits, Stitch and I Used A Lot Of Magic To Protect You, Mama.”

“Thank you, Quartz. You were super brave to use that much magic to protect me.”

Quartz’s skull gently blushed his familiar teal. “Aw, We Will Always Protect You, Mama.”

“Why don’t you take it easy and rest some more, little dude.”

“Ok, Mama, I’m Glad Your Hand Is Better.” Quartz smiled blearily and wriggled tighter into her palm, soaking up her skin’s heat. Her little Crystal skelly was asleep again. She bit her lip to stop from squeeing out loud over how overwhelmingly and fiercely adorable he was curling up like a baby chipmunk in her palm. Cute Aggression Syndrome: +5, Acting normally over cute things: 0.

“Sooo…three bitties, huh?” Sans’s voice caught her attention again and she turned her eyes back to the monster skelly. “Can’t say Ah’ve not met them afore, but things were…dicey fer a moment.” He held up his right set of phalanges to show off a series of tiny bite marks. Most likely from Stitch.

“Ah…uhh…I’m sorry. Did…did Stitch do that?”

“Yea. Dun worry ‘bout it, darlin’. Ah’m used t’ shit stai…ah…fierce lil Bitties.” Sans’ crimson eyelights darted from her face to something that moved on the table. She followed his gaze and scooted away from the Pupper Bitty.

“Uh. Y…e…a…” Her own hand ( _after transferring sleepy Quartz to the other_ ) lifted to show the lack of wounds and drying bloody evidence showing something did happened. “How come my hand is…not sliced and diced?”

“Doge…” the tall skeleton before her sighed tiredly and scooped up the Pupper Bitty to haphazardly drop it on the table behind him. “Ah’m sorry th’ shit-stain attacked ya like that, darlin’. Titan is a massive shit and thinks everybody should obey ‘em.”

“Titan, huh? Is he the red bitty?” She peered over Sans’ shoulder to gaze at the two bitties on the table. The red-wearing Titan glared sourly at her as the black and orange Doge just shrugged and sat on the wood.

“Yea, Doge is his brother, and both of dem nasty.” Sans stepped aside let her view the tiny skeletons. “As fer yer hand, Sweetheart, Ah healed it fer ya.”

“Ah! So…” She flushed, uncertain what to say to that. Turning her eyes to Sans, she noticed him shifting nervously. “I…uh…thanks…”

“Heh, ya dun have t’ thank me, doll-face. It was my pleasure.” He turned away to hide the red stain blooming under that black splatter of freckles.

“Uh, sorry for being…sorry for Stitch biting you, Sans.” Of course a skeleton monster would be pissed at being bitten like that. “It must be weird to see tiny skeletons running around when you’re a tall skeleton.” Try for a ice-breaker…yea…good idea. The room was beginning to feel awkward.

“As much as Ah would love t’ see Our tiny skeletons runnin’ ‘round the house, darlin…” Sans’s voice pitched lower and something in her shivered before growing hot as her mind processed his words. ___ straightened and clutched Quartz closer to her chest, exhaling through her nose. Oh god…did he really just imply…?! A lava-hot wave of arousal rolled through her core.

“Fffffuuuck…” A near-feral growl made her attention snap to Sans as his head whipped back to lock on her face.

“Wh…what!?”

The way Sans stared at her sent another pulse of lava-like heat roiling through her, stronger this time. She blinked and he was RIGHT THERE ON HER! Backpedaling quickly enough that she forgot the table was a thing, ___ felt the edge buckle into her knees and sent her falling. Sans’ arm snaked around her waist, halting her fall and drawing her tightly against his chest. The lazy pulse of heat was now an inferno of arousal. What in the world was going on!?

“Ya smell fuckin’ delicious like that, darlin’.” He purred into her ear. “Absolutely…tantalyzin’. Ah thought ya smelled good before, Sugar-Shot, but damn, ya smell like paradise now.”

Her mind sputtered to a static wall. Did…did he smell her arousal? If she thought her face was red before, it was setting a record for a vivid red. The pulsing blood in her head made it hard to think. The tall skeleton leaned her over and locked eyes. ___ tried pushing him away, wanting space to think and maybe get the hell out of dodge before her brain melted.

“Ya have no idea what yer doin’ ta me, Sweetheart, but please…don’t struggle like that.” He leaned in closer and placed his face against her hair. “If ya struggle like that…well Ah just might lose it…”

“Uhhh…”

Sans slowly grasped her hand and chuckled darkly. The firm, warm bones of his hands moved slowly, lowering both their hands down…down…down until her hand was pushed against a raging hot dick. A squeaking gasp escaped her mouth and the skeleton’s member twitched. She felt it through the shorts he wore, and her fingers were relaxed enough for him to slowly cup her hand around his stiff, THICK member. Oh god; it was long, hot and thick…she felt her heat pulsing now, making her thighs ache with a once-dormant NEED.

Sans growled louder this time and stared her dead in the eyes. “Like whatcha feelin’ baby-girl? Its all yers. Ah would more’n love t’ fuck ya raw until yer drippin’ with my seed.”

The room suddenly felt WAY too hot for late autumn, the black jacket that was still draped on her shoulders far too stuffy. She watched as his eyelights dilate in sync with the waves of her arousal.

“Hehehe, but ya would like that, wouldn’t cha, Sugar-Shot. Ah bet ya have a kink-list a mile long.”

~WHO LET THE DOGS OUT, WHO, WHO, WHO WHO?!~

___ nearly became a damned skeleton herself as her phone’s overly loud ringtone sliced through the thick, sexual tension. Sans flinched big time and nearly dropped her on the table before letting go.

“Ah, I…should answer that…its my neighbor.” ___ stuttered heatedly, moving to the bag that held her phone.

“Pun-kin?” Stitch’s voice was like silk on her heated ears. Quickly looking at towel-nested skellies, she smiled seeing Stitch sitting up and rubbing his eyes. The phone probably woke him up.

“Sorry, Stitch, my phone is ringing.” Placing a sleeping Quartz next to Stitch, she answered.

“~Hay, Hay! Hay!~” the barky voice greeted her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next:
> 
> Marbles, Bitties, Bitey and chews


	13. Author's note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> questions

Yes, I am slowly making the next chapter up, and just wanted to know if y'all wanted anymore of Bitey's adventures? Since making Chef and Jacob Bitey's family, I'm now finding it harder to keep in line with my original idea of having the Reader find Bitey lost in a pile of leaves. I know we all love Bitey, and he was one of the three original Bitties I had in mind when I first made with story.

I guess my question is:

Should Bitey go with Reader or Stay with Jacob?

Update:

AGAIN, I updating the story, and hopefully, the chapters match. please tell me if anything is wonky...

I am also brainstorming your ideas with Bitey and I'm leaning more towards a mini-adventure with Bitey getting lost, Reader finding him and returning him to Jacob!


	14. Characters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a short list of Bitty characters so far

Stitch: a Redberry – an offspring of an Edgy and Blueberry, a designer Bitty, Soulmate to reader  
Size: 5 inches  
Magic color: red/blue and mixes of each  
Likes: Legos, his Pun-kin, bossing his brothers around  
Dislikes: Druggo humans, squirrels, Razzberry Brats, anything pink

Blue Quartz: a Blueberry (Crystalberry) Skittles’ older brother  
Size: 5 inches  
Magic color: teal/ turquoise  
Likes: Crystals, Crystals, Jewels, Gemstones, his Goddess, tiny fruits, his brother  
Dislikes: fake plastic crystals, snotty kids, coffee, boring rocks

Rainbow Skittles: a Lil Bro with two spines, Blue Quartz’s brother  
Size: 6.5 inches  
Magic color: carrot orange  
Likes: painting, his human, his brother, painting with his brother AND human, round candies  
Dislikes: his mutation, being made fun of for his two spines

Bitey: a Pure Bite – a tailed Horror Bitty  
Size: 7.5 inches, (9.5 from head to tail tip)  
Magic color: blood-red  
Likes: Chewing, his Brother, Chef, eating food, and Pikachu plushies  
Dislikes: being alone, thunderstorms, forgetting things

Chef: a Tall Bro Bitty, Bitey’s Brother  
Size: 9 inches  
Magic color: butterscotch-orange  
Likes: Cooking, his brother, Jacob, their human, eating great food and cooking TV shows  
Dislikes: when his brother hurts himself in amnesic episodes, Puns

Honey: a Lil Bro, Blue Bean’s brother and Mama Jazz’s companion  
Size: 8 Inches  
Magic color: marigold  
Likes: Honey, telling puns, bugging his brother  
Dislikes: Edgy Bitties, biters

Blue Bean: a Blueberry, and Braun’s companion  
Size: 6 inches  
Magic color: powder blue  
Likes: waffles, blueberries, fruits, training, puzzles, his brother and snow  
Dislikes: Puns, lazy bones and cats

Titan: a Razzberry Bitty, (real nasty piece of work) Brother to Doge  
Size: 6.5 inches  
Magic color: scarlet  
Likes: being obeyed, having the world on a silver platter for him to take want he wants  
Dislikes: rebels, every other Bitty in the world and being dirty

Doge: a Mutt Bitty, younger brother to Titan,  
Size: 8 inches  
Magic Color: amber  
Likes: being lazy, smoking black-pine cigs, honey-mustard  
Dislikes: anything that threatens or harms his brother, Titan

Moxie: a Birb – a winged Sansy  
Size: 7 inches (from claw tip to head, wing span of 7 inches)  
Magic color: blue-grey  
Likes: flying, birds, feathers, toothbrush-scrubbies, bugs  
Dislikes: being caged, being unable to fly, rainstorms, and dresses

Crysalline: an Inky-Crystal – a crystal-bones mutate of an Inky  
Size: 4.9 inches  
Magic color: pearlescent  
Likes: her mate Quartz, painting, beads, crystals, marshmallows, feathers, colors  
Dislikes: sterile things, lack-luster colors, erasers


	15. Bitey is Bae II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chapter finished.  
>    
> PLEASE enjoy...Bitey is Precious.
> 
> Chapter warning: mention of Bitty-attacks with mildly severe injuries...no bitties die though.

_Bitey was chasing something yellow, had a long zig-zag tail and fluffy red cheeks. He squealed in joy as the Him-sized mouse turned around to smile at him, its shiny black eyes reflecting the warm sun overhead. Bitey giggled as he lumbered up to the yellow rodent and gave it a big Bitey Hug. Yellow Zap Mouse squeaked and shifted to stand on its hind legs, bringing his fluffy yellow front legs to wrap Bitey in a return hug._

_“Pikachu!”_

_Bitey laughed and watched as his yellow friend scurried off into the grassy bush. Bitey loved Pikachu because the yellow mouse had cute red cheeks and was really-fluffy. Bitey loved touching fluffy things because it felt good on his phalanges._

_Looking up to the massively tall trees, Bitey smiled gently as a breeze of wind wafted through his bony frame. It was beautiful day outside, the birds were singing, the flowers were in full bloom and Bitties like Bitey…_  
_._  
_._  
_._  
_._  
_._  
_._  
_._  
_._  
_._  
_Should be running around in the grassy area trying to find the best hiding spot from his sharp-eyed brother._

_“Nyeheheh! Brother, I Know You Are Close Because I Just Heard Your Laughter!”_

_Bitey gulped and slapped his hands over his shark-toothed mouth. OOPS! Bitey didn’t mean to laugh out loud and Bitey knew he only had seconds to find a hidey-hole or his Brother would find and tag him. Being tagged was always a thrill._

_Looking left and right frantically, Bitey chose the tree slightly to the left. The grand old oak was the perfect hiding spot because there was the old squirrel’s nest about six feet off the ground._

_Bitey grinned at his own cleverness and raced towards the oak, launching his seven/half inch tall body up the rough bark; his clawed hands very useful for latching onto the tree to climb. Oddly enough, now the tree was soft to the touch, and saggy, almost as if Bitey was climbing up a piece of fabric…_

~~~

“Bitey…” a masculine voice interrupted Bitey’s dream. “Bitey, stop, that tickles.”

Bitey groaned and forced his eyelids to open. His singular blood-red eye-light met grey-brown eyes. Jacob was looking down at him as Bitey was clinging to Jacob’s grey-sleep shirt like a baby bat. It was the middle of the night, and Jacob had used his phone to cast a gentle glow to see just what Bitey was doing. The phone laid beneath Bitey, casting a light upward to create his shadow.

“What’re you dreaming about, Bitey?” Jacob’s soft voice asked and Bitey clung even tighter when his human shifted slightly, making the shirt move. Jacob’s food-scented fingers gently rubbed Bitey’s skull, making him smile sleepily.

“I climbed tree.” Bitey yawned and relaxed when the large male human turned ninety degrees to lay on his back. Now Bitey was on Jacob’s chest and snuggled closer to his human’s warm skin. “Play tag with Bro.”

“Hehehehe. Is that so? Sounds like lots of fun.” His Jacob whispered quietly, trying not to disturb their third bed-buddy, Chef. “But it’s the middle of the night, Bitey, try to sleep more.”

“Ok, Jacob.” Bitey yawned again and rolled off his chest, and army-crawled to his little yellow-fleece nest. The fleece was soft and Bitey wriggled back into the little swirl of the warm snuggly fabric.

“Night-night.” Bitey peeked out his right eye to Jacob and grinned when his human huffed back and turned off the phone’s glowing screen. Jacob was already succumbing to the heavy pull of sleep. Yawning again, Bitey glanced about briefly to locate his precious treasure: a sleepy-time Pikachu Kuttari plush. Jacob, Chef and Bitey found the rare treasure at a garage sale and Bitey refused to let go once his tiny bony hands hugged it to his chest. Whenever Jacob had picked up the closed-eye sleeping Pikachu plush, nine times out of ten, Bitey was hanging off the other end. Oddly enough, it was the only plush that had yet to gain chew-holes in. Finding it and clutching it tightly to his chest, Bitey snuggled back into his nest and closed his eyes.

~~~

_Hopping around the yellow circle of flowers, Bitey started counting the delightful fluffy-petaled plants, popping them into his mouth before moving to the next. The little yellow flowers, tasting like chocolate then turned orange and orange-flavored, then red and chewy, like Skittles. This was fun!_

_“NYEHEHEH! Brother! Stop eating the flowers!” Bitey looked up from the wiggly line of colorful flowers to see his brother ahead of him by several steps. Chef held a huge bag of rainbow pellets and was placing them in a dirt line._

_“Bro! Why planting seeds?”_

_“Nyehe! I Am Planting Flowers For The Next Spring Season, Brother!”_

_“Tasty.”_

_“Bitey…Bitey, wake up…it’s time for breakfast!”_

~~~

“Buh?” Bitey’s eyes snapped open to gaze at his brother’s wide-awake visage. The sun was peeking through the slated curtains and made the room glowy and soft gold. Chef was leaned over him with his Mac & Cheese pajamas and cute fluffy bed-cap. Bitey grinned at how awesome his Brother’s pajamas were. The deliciously cheesy curve noodles were one of Bitey’s favorite snacks. ( _Bitey may or may not have gotten in trouble twice by taking a few bites out of old pairs of pajamas his brother had to throw away. The pizza pajamas were so yummy looking._ )

“Up, You Lazy Bones! Breakfast Is Ready And Jacob Has To Leave For Work In An Hour! Remember, Dear Brother, You Are Going To Mama Jazz Today!”

Bitey’s tail wagged at the mention of the black rabbit’s name and he sat up, rubbing the drool off his left mandible. “Ok Bro. Hug.”

“Nyeheheh! Of Course, Anyone Would Love To Have A Morning Hug From The Sensational Chef!” the tall skeleton gathered Bitey into his lanky arms and gave a big tight bear-squeeze. Bitey giggled and wrapped his own Pikachu and Bulbasaur pajama-ed arms to squeeze back. Both their tails clacked in joy.

“Morning Bro.” Bitey now was on his bone-toes and ready to start the day. His tasks: Chew, eat, color, play and sneak – not exactly in that order…and maybe he was forgetting the majority of other tasks, but today those were the main points. Bitey felt his mouth open, close and open again, the incessant need to chew flaring to the forefront of his mind. Luckily his super-awesome amazing brother Chef was right there ready to help him.

“Here You Go, Brother, Jacob Has Bought Something New For You To Chew This Morning. It Is Beef-Flavored!”

His brother pulled a green tooth-brush-shaped piece of jerky from behind his back and Bitey’s eyes went wide with awe. The aroma of beef wafted into his nose and sent his tail wagging faster and drool oozing out his teeth. Bitey loved to chew jerky! It was on his list of things that lasted when Chewed. The tough, meaty texture was something sturdy enough not to fall apart after a minute of chews. Right up there with bone and rubber-balls.

“Bro coolest!” Bitey chuckled and stuck the toothbrush-shaped jerky in his mouth and worked his jaw up and down to start his chews.

“Nyehehehe. Of Course! Now To Get You Dressed So You Can Eat A Hearty Breakfast.”

“Breakfast most im…im…impont meal of day!” Bitey tripped over the large word while noshing on his jerky.

“Yes, It Is!” Chef agreed, laying out his brother’s clothes for the day.

~~~

Bitey hummed to himself watching Jacob casually butter a piece of toast as his own bony phalanges scooped up another spoonful of fruity cereal and stick it in his maw. Butter smelled good when done right. None of that fake multi-stuff thing that Jacob refused to buy. Bitey liked Jacob for letting him have his fake fruity cereal. Chef and Jacob were talking over his head about the day’s plans and Bitey only focused on the good words like beef, soup, cheese and basically any other food words. Beef was tasty and made him drool.

Scooping another bitty-spoonful of red, blue, purple and green fruity flakes into his mouth, Bitey decided to try to join the talk.

“Jacob going to cook beef today?”

Jacob, his human, paused and smiled brightly at Bitey, making Bitey swell with pride. He did something good!

“Yes, you boys tried out my new soup recipe last night and Chef and I agree, it was a resounding success!”

Bitey paused his flake-crunching to think back on last night dinner; Meat-o-saurus Rex pizza and soup that had tomatoes, beans and beef.

“Hhhmmmmmm.” Bitey gave his delicious hum of approval when he remembered. Jacob managed to have one bowl of the soup, Chef had two, and Bitey ended up drinking it straight from the shallow pot until it was nearly gone.

“Yea, don’t HHHHMMM me, you little piglet.” Jacob chuckled and bit into his toast. “I still don’t know how you drank all of that and not pee.”

“BITEY NO PEEE! BITEY MAGIC!” Bitey chuckled and fake-scowled at Jacob. “Jacob is Piggy. Oink. Oink.”

“Brother! There Shall Be No Name Calling At Breakfast.” Chef chuckled to his right. His brother’s small orange eyes took on a mischievous gleam. “But I Agree, Friend Jacob. Maybe My Brother Should Have A Light Lunch Today. Maybe A Single Carrot?”

“NNNNOOOO!” Bitey cried. “No tiny lunch. Bitey get BIG lunch! With sammich, carrots and chisps! LOTS OF CARROT!”

His brother covered his mouth with his hands and chuckled teasingly. “Remember, Brother, You Will Have Lunch With Mama Jazz Today.”

“Yes, Bitey know. Mama Jazz.” He gave his serious face and nodded. “You and Jacob go cook food for people today!”

“Yup, that’s right, Bitey. You get to stay with Rabbit Mama today.” Jacob finished eating his toast and picked up the fork to eat his eggs and sausage. “She has the paper with clock-times on it so you can check them off for the day.”

Bitey nodded at Jacob’s words. Rabbit Mama knew of Bitey’s special needs and worked with Jacob to have an easy-to-read paper of which Bitey could check on whenever he felt his memory become foggy.

Dipping his spoon in his bowl, Bitey wiggled his toe-bones together absent-mindedly while eating. Then he tilted them inward to touch, enjoying the clicking noise they made. He pushed them outward before flicking his toe-phalanges back together – click click. Away…touching. Click-click. Another spoonful of colorful fruity flakes and another twitch of his toe-bones. Click-click. Munch, click-click. Toe-bones.

“Hehehehehehehehehehehe.”

Something was missing. Bitey felt it in his bones. He stood up on the table to look around. A tiny white bowl caught his attention and he looked down to focus. His eye-light shook for a moment before relaying the information to his odd little brain. The bowl was empty. No milk or food was in it. Only a spoon. Bitey whined softly. Why no food? He was hungry…starving. Why wasn’t there any food to eat!? EAT FOOD!

Something purple and round rolled into his vision and Bitey zeroed in on it. A grape. Grapes were juicy and yummy. He lowered himself to the ground and, pushing off with his strong legs, pounced on his hapless prey. Grasping it with his claws, Bitey tore into the grape and devoured it two bites. Hhhm yummy. Another something moved just outside his peripheral vision and he whipped his head towards it.

Another grape!

Bitey fell to his hands and feet, slightly adjusted his arm bones to lengthen and match the size of his leg bones. Wagging his tail to gain balance, Bitey pounce the larger distance and impaled the second grape with his claws, shoving the orb straight into his mouth in a single chomp.

Another grape rolled in front of him. Bitey felt his teeth pull back into an absolutely devilish grin, the shark-pointed teeth extending to their full length. POUNCE! Chomp, gulp.

THREE MORE GRAPES rolled into his vision and Bitey growled viciously at them. How dare they come into HIS territory and act like they owned the place! This was HIS table and anything on it was under HIS rule!

Teleporting to the other side of the still-rolling grapes, Bitey rose up on his hind legs and summoned three blood-red bones, bringing them forcefully down to impale the three offending spheres. Splat, Splat, Splat! Victorious! Bitey snarled as he fell upon his wounded prey, snapping the grapey trio up in three bites.

A small series of thumps behind him alerted Bitey and he turned around, letting his sockets blow wide at the feast before him. It was a herd of ELEVEN grapes, and three of them were babies. Drool was now flowing from between his teeth and Bitey crouched low on the savannah’s grass ( _tablecloth_ ), choosing to take out the herd’s strongest stag first. The luscious purple orb was nearly the size of his skull.

Bitey had never seen such a strong male stag ( _grape_ ) before and the need to stalk it was running hot through his bones. Suddenly, a majestic green doe ( _green-grape_ ) trotted up to the buck and Bitey froze in his advance, eye-lights locking onto the scene. The green doe nuzzled the stag ( _the green grape rolled by the larger purple grape, nudging it_ ) Bitey couldn’t hold himself still and LAUNCHED ( _yeeted_ ) himself at the pair, shark-fangs fully out and maw open.

Down went the doe, head shorn clean off, ( _grape bitten in half_ ) and Bitey swirled to turn on the now stunned stag and bit it in half as well. The herd panicked and scattered ( _Bitey’s landing made the grapes roll_ ) and the hunt was on. Stepping on one of the fawns, Bitey stuck the second fawn right into his mouth, swallowing it whole. The third fawn( _grape_ ) followed its sibling down his gullet, its juices trickling down his mandibles. Bitey ruthlessly tracked down another two deer and shoved them into his mouth before teleporting to block the rest of the herd’s escape.

It was a complete and utter massacre; a scene of carnage which left no survivors. Bitey hunted down the rest of the herd, each of the ( _grapes_ ) vanished with one or two bites. Returning to the body of the doe ( _green grape_ ) Bitey grinned in triumph and ate the rest of the body. He was satiated, having single-handedly hunted and devoured the whole herd. Signs of his successful hunt was all over his fangs, jaw and claws. The grapey juices stained his pointed phalanges and Bitey plopped down to start licking his claws clean.

A chuckle to his left brought Bitey back to Reality and he turned to face his brother. Chef stood there, arms crossed, face set in the Neutral Face of Displeasure and orange eyelights looking down at Bitey.

Bitey shrunk in on himself and frantically looked around before stopping on his right foot. The remains of the first baby fawn was smooshed between his toe-bones.

HOW COULD HE FORGET TO SET ASIDE SOME OF THE KILL FOR HIS BROTHER!?

Bitey was a horrible, awful, good-for nothing lazy bag of bones brother. Quickly scrabbling to extract the mutilated remains of the poor fawn ( _grape_ ) and hold it up to his waiting brother, Bitey whined more, looking ever-so pitiful.

“Really Brother, Must You Be So Intense About Eating Your Grapes?” Chef clucked and let a tiny smile pass his lips. Bitey relaxed and chirped, motioning to Chef with the tiny grape’s sad smooshed corpse.

“No Thank You Brother, I Had My Fruit Earlier.” ( _Like Hell Chef would eat toe-bone jam, even if it was from his beloved brother. He HAD standards_ ) The Tall Bro Bitty pointedly ignored a red-faced Jacob who was trying to contain his shit/laughter as silently as he could while putting the rest of the bag of grapes in the fridge. ( _Who said Jacob couldn’t have SOME weird-ass fun with feeding Bitey._ )

“Come On You Silly-Bones, Let’s Get Your Toe-Bones Washed Off To Put Socks And Shoes On. Mama Jazz Is Waiting For Us!”

“Bunny Mama!” Bitey shot to his feet and rushed to the bathroom to get ready.

~~~

Bitey stood like a giant among the shorter Blueberry Bitties as they crowed around his bony frame, chattering excitedly. He blinked at the mass of little blue-clad skeletons and couldn’t help when their bubbly cheerfulness sent his tail wagging. This action, of course, made most of them giggle and move to give his appendage room to wag. A chain-reaction started, and their giggles made his tail wag faster, causing them to move back more to give Bitey space to wag.

Then the tallest Blueberry grew bold and reached out to gently run his gloved fingers over Bitey’s arms. Bitey clapped both hands over his mouth, trying his best NOT to giggle at ticklish touch. Some of the shorter Blueberries smiled up at Bitey and their giggles only made Bitey’s tail wag faster.

“Alright, you little imps!” The strong, demanding voice of Honey interrupted their giggle-fest and Bitey turned to the tall Lil Bro Skeleton.

“Hi Bro!”

“Heh, Mornin’ Bitey.” The orange-hoodie wearing skeleton gave a lazy smile. “Welcome back to the Goofball Squad.”

“Hehehehe Goofballs!” Bitey chuckled and randomly picked up a short Blueberry to gently hug. “Goofball!”

This statement made the rest of his little blue-clad skeletal friends laugh louder as their brother made a pouty face while he hung in Bitey’s arms.

“HEH, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’VE GOT A NEW NAME, BROTHER. IT FITS YOU NICELY.” The taller Blueberry…Bitey thought hard and dredged up a name: Bean, spoke.

“Hi Bean!” Bitey leaned over and gently patted Bean on his skull. “Morning.”

“GOOD MORNING, BITEY. GLAD TO SEE YOU COULD MAKE IT TODAY.”

“Yes! Today is fun.” Bitey held up his new hug-buddy. “Goofball!”

“HAY, I’M NOT A GOOFBALL, YOU’RE A GOOFBALL, BITEY!” the Blueberry, now named Goofball, tittered in Bitey’s arms. Bitey only chuckled and hugged Goofball closer.

“No, you Goofball!” Bitey responded and gave a big drooly lick on Goofball’s skull. The rest of the Blueberries ‘Eeeww-ed’ and laughed behind their gloved hands. Poor Goofball.

“HEY, DON’T LICK, BITEY. I’M A FRIEND, NOT A LOLLIPOP!” The blue blush staining the Blueberry’s skull clashed with the messy red saliva of Bitey’s Kiss.

“Goofball friend!?” Bitey put him the now-named Blueberry on the ground and looked so happy.

“YES, SURE, BITEY, I’LL BE A FRIEND IF YOU DON’T LICK ME AGAIN.” Goofball grinned and wiped off the Pure Bite’s spit from his skull. Bitey was weird and harmless if treated nicely. The Blueberry pack knew this from experience. Not that Blueberry Bitties would actively seek to harm another Bitty, but as pack they watched and learned.

There was one incident a week back, when a particularly grumpy King Lamia had berated Bitey’s weird way of eating lunch. The red-colored snake-skeleton had inserted himself with intent to teach Bitey how to eat a sandwich ‘properly’.

For whatever reason, the half-cobra half-Fell-Papyrus Lamia was disgusted with the way Bitey spread his lunch over a large space, lining each article of food next to each other in a horizontal line. Bread slice, lettuce, tomato slice, ham-slice, turkey-slice, turkey-slice, packet of ketchup, lettuce, pickle, bread slice – all of which would be better off in sandwich form; stacked on top of each other in a neat square. As soon as the bossy snek-Bitty started touching Bitey’s food – well, the Bitties residing in Bitty-Topia learned that day what triggered a ‘dangerous’ Bitey.

Bitey’s absent-minded personality switched off like a switch; and in its place was a feral, ruthless, DANGEROUS predator. Bitey instantly opened his shark-toothed maw and bit a huge chunk out of the Lamia’s snake torso. By the time the Fell-Lamia registered he was under attack, he had lost both ulnas, and had several huge bite marks over his red-magic-made snake-half.

It had been a terrifying event for the faint of heart Bitties nearby, and by the time Mama Jazz had rushed to defuse the situation; five Sansys, three Papys needed therapy, two Lil Bros and the King-Lamia Bitty needed critical emergency care.

Blue Bean and his Blueberry pack hadn’t been there that day – if they had been, they would have intervened and kept the grumpy Lamia away. But the curious, justice-hearted Blueberries investigated, asked questions and watched the playback on the store’s security-cams. After a day and night of introspective reflection and discussion with themselves and their Lil Bros, it was decided that Bitey was indeed dangerous if not handled KINDLY. They all understood that Bitey was indeed a dangerous Pure Bite breed, but this was his first time attacking another bitty since Bitey started hanging out at Bitty-Topia two months back. But it was provoked because another bitty was messing with Bitey’s food. Gentle testing was done with Bitey after he returned from his one-day time-out and it was established that if you didn’t mess with Bitey’s food, he remained fairly harmless.

The Blueberries took it upon themselves to inform the other Bitties in the store of their findings and set ground-rules for interactions with Bitey. If another Bitty wanted to be around Bitey, they had to ask one of the Blueberries or Lil Bros for clearance. (T _he Lil Bro pair who tried to help the Lamia recovered quickly after eating monster candy and the King Lamia, thankfully, survived with quick treatment and was on the mend after being set to soak in an aquarium of Sea-Tea to help him re-grow his missing ulnas._ )

Since then, it had been mainly the Blueberries, Lil Bros, Papys, a few Edgys and a few Blackberries and one Pupper interacting with Bitey. The rest of the Bitties in Bitty-Topia opted to give space. (Sansys were just generally lazy and didn’t care one way or another. But they understood the rule about no touching Bitey’s food and respected it.)

“Friend!” Bitey chirped happily and again hugged Goofball tightly, making the Blueberry sputter and laugh.

“Bitey, don’t hurt the little Bitty, ok?” a male human’s voice broke into their hug-fest and Bitey looked up. Jacob stood over the display case he had dropped Bitey off a minute before going over to check in with Jazz for the day.

“Bitey no hurt new friend.” Bitey held up Goofball to Jacob, showing off the shorter Bitty.

“HELLO HUMAN JACOB!” the newly minted Goofball blushed and gave a half-embarrassed wave. “BITEY IS NOT HURTING ME. IN FACT, HE JUST NOW GAVE ME A NAME!”

The black-haired human smiled, and the other Blueberries laughed. “Is that so? Well, Bitey, who is your new friend?”

“Goofball!” Bitey announced smugly. On Jacob’s shoulder, Chef sighed and couldn’t help but smile. The Tall Bro signaled to Jacob he wanted to join his brother. Jacob nodded and helped Chef move from his shoulder to the display box the other Bitties were crowded in.

“Brother, Did You Ask Your New Friend If He Had A Name Already?” Chef chuckled as he stood next to his brother.

The Blueberries gave Chef firm, welcoming handshakes…with Chef’s two longest finger-bones. The size difference between Chef and the rest of their pack was evident. Chef was nine inches; four inches taller than the rest of them. Only Blue Bean was able to firmly grasp Chef’s bony palm because he was six inches instead of five. The residing Lil Bro, Honey, came up only to Chef’s broad shoulders, being an inch shorter.

“Uh…” Bitey looked confused and glanced at Goofball. “Bitey no ask?”

“IT’S OK, BITEY. I AM BEGINNING TO LIKE THE NAME GOOFBALL. IT SUITS ME NICELY!” The Blueberry, Goofball, grinned heartily and patted the arm Bitey was using to hug him. Goofball both heard and felt Bitey’s tail pick its wagging tempo again and he snorted. What a total fluff-heart Bitey was; like a big dorky, dopey dog. Goofball was proud to be given a name by the Dopey Bitey.

“YAY!”

“Ok, Bitey, Chef and I are going to work.” Jacob extracted his Pure Bite from the Blueberries and brought Bitey to his face so Jacob could give a big cheek-nuzzle. “Be a good Bitey for me, ok?”

Bitey grinned huge, and clasped Jacob’s cheek to hug back, his bony tail swaying behind him.

“Ok, Jacob, Bitey be good. No, biting other Bitties.” Bitey sprang back the newest rule that had been imprinted in his mind. No Biting Bitties. Only chews.

“Yes, Brother, Good Rule.” Chef nodded sagely and moved to hug his brother as Jacob placed Bitey back down into the grassy carpet of the display case. It was early in the morning, and Mama Jazz had yet to move the two-by-two case to the front of the store.

“Ok!” Bitey hugged his brother back tightly. “Bitey be good. Goofball help Bitey be good!”

“HEY, SILLY, DON’T FORGET ABOUT US!” Blue Bean boldly announced and was by Bitey’s right side. “WE SHALL HELP BITEY BE GOOD TOO!”

Chef crouched down to meet Blue Bean in the eyes and grinned brightly. The Blueberries could never be terrified of the crooked-toothed Tall Bro. He was too much of a Cinnamon Bunny to be scary. Blue Bean knew, even though Chef was born a Tall Bro Bite Bitty, and looked horrific enough to scare young kids away – with his tall, warped, lanky stature and jagged, crooked teeth and tail – he would never harm a fly.

“Thank You, Blue Bean. It Will Be Easier To Work Knowing You Will Be There Helping My Brother.” Chef then shifted to the quiet Lil Bro, who watched the interactions with a lazy façade while leaning against the wall. “You as well, Brother Honey.”

“Nyeeh, It’s no big deal, Chef.” Honey blushed at the gratitude. He knew both Chef and Bitey fairly well and approved of the brotherly bond between him and the two rarer Bitties. “I’ll keep an Eye out on Bitey here, Bro. I’ll make sure Bitey doesn’t attack again.” The last sentence was spoken up to Jacob.

“Thank you, Honey. Hearing that helps a lot.” Jacob smiled softly and nudged Chef in order to go. “Tell Mama Jazz if Bitey starts to have an amnesic episode, ok?”

Yea, I won’t…forget…” Honey chuckled and winked. Chef stomped his foot and Nyeh-ed as Jacob picked him up.

“BROTHER! NO PUNS!”

“Hehehhe, oops – guess I…” Honey paused and gazed at the Blueberries just DARING him to finish the pun. “…forgot.”

Jacob and Chef left Bitey among the groaning pack of Blueberries. Lil Bros and their puns, ugh.

~~~

Bitey bent over sideways and used his phalanges to touch his fuzzy blue slippers, counting out loud with the rest of the energetic voices around him.

“1…2…3…4…5!” He relaxed his pose and slowly straightened up to lift both palms skyward, waggling his toes in his comfy slippers. Gazing around to the seven other Blueberry Bitties in the area around him, Bitey blinked, and giggled. The energetic little skeletons were doing something called ‘exercise.’

He vaguely remembered that the event was something this Blueberry friends always did. His tail started wagging, sending his two closest neighbors giggling and scooting away. Bitey turned to face the Bitty on his left and grinned, shuffling closer to the differently colored-clothed skeleton. Bitey couldn’t remember this Bitty’s name, but the others said this Bitty was special because of what he liked. Something about shiny rocks or something.

“BITEY…NYAHAHAHAHA…SILLY!” The Bitty’s voice chuckled at him, which only made Bitey happier and his bony tail wag more.

“Bitey not silly, you silly.” Bitey stuck out his blood-red tongue at teal-scarfed Bitty. “Why giggle?”

“NYHEHEHEHE, BECAUSE YOU ARE FUNNY, BITEY!”

“Huh?” Bitey blinked and lost his train of thought. He moved his right phalange up to start scratching at his skull, frustration slowly bubbling up. This different-color-wearing skeleton had to be special enough to already have a name. Why couldn’t Bitey remember?!

“ARE YOU OK, BITEY?” the Teal-clad Skeleton gently scooped up Bitey’s other hand and held firmly. “HERE, LET’S GO SIT AGAINST THE WALL FOR A MOMENT TO REST.”

Bitey’s blood-red eye-light moved to focus on the shorter skeleton, who was gently guiding him by the hand to the edge of the work-out area.

“Who you?”

“NYAHAHAH! I AM THE ASTOUNDING AND SHINY BLUE QUARTZ!” The skeleton answered and posed proudly as Bitey took a seat on the black-fluffy carpet.

“Cartz!” Bitey perked up and smiled to the bold skeleton, remembering Quartz name. That’s why he couldn’t recall it; it was hard for him to say.

“NYAHAHAHAH! VERY GOOD, BITEY, YOU GOT MY NAME RIGHT!”

Bitey beamed. Then his eyes locked onto a purple shiny thing strapped to Cartz’s back.

“What that?” He pointed.

“OH! YES, THIS IS MY TREASURE, MAMA JAZZ LET ME KEEP IT!” Quartz tugged and pulled the shard of amethyst off his back and handed it to Bitey. That was a mistake, because Bitey’s eyes grew big as he stuck the piece of jewel in his maw and started chewing. Quartz made a strangled, choking sound and nearly yanked the amethyst out of Bitey’s mouth before promptly halting his hands, bringing them to his own mouth in a consternation.

‘Remember to redirect Bitey’s need to chew with something appropriate.’ The guideline echoed in his head and Quartz quickly looked around and caught the eyes of a Lil Bro in the space next to his and signaled. The Lil Bro, not Honey, nodded at Quartz’s chew-mimicking and vanished from his spot on a hammock.

Five seconds later, The Lil Bro reappeared with a thin, long piece of jerky and wandered up to the pair.

“Yo, Quartz, Bitey.” A greeting was given, attention of Bitey, gained.

“Hi!” Bitey paused his chewing of the amethyst and looked up at the Lil Bro and the tantalizing strip of deer-smelling jerky. It certainly smelled much better than the cold piece of stone Bitey was currently nomming on.

“I have something here I wanna trade ya for that shiny purple rock Bro.” The Lil Bro took control of the situation and winked at Quartz who had his teal eyelights locked on his purple treasure.

“Trade!?” Bitey growled and eyed the piece of jerky. “Bitey trade.”

“Yea? Ok, I’ll give ya this jerky for that purple crystal in your hands.”

“Ok!” Bitey held out the slightly drool-covered amethyst to the Lil Bro. The orange-clad Skeleton smiled gently and held out the piece of jerky to Bitey; who exchanged the purple crystal.

Promptly sticking the deer-jerky in his mouth, Bitey chewed happily watching with innocent eyes as the Lil Bro handed the wet amethyst back to Quartz. Quartz sighed, relieved, as he reclaimed his treasure. He used his sleeve to polish the drool off the amethyst.

“Nyahahah! Thank You Brother. I Forgot I Shouldn’t Hand Things To Bitey.”

“No problem, Blue Q. We bros stick together!” the Lil Bro grinned at Quartz and bopped him on the head. The two Bitties chuckled together and watched Bitey happily chew the deer jerky.


	16. Keeps Getting Better...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New characters yay!

_Stitch watched, transfixed, the softly glowing soul in front of him. He didn’t care the rest of the world around was pitch-black, or that his own soul was gently floating right outside his ribcage. His red and blue eye-lights remained firmly on the curves, lines and gentle bottom point of the sky-blue and green-swirled soul before him. Concern over seeing the few grey surface cracks littering the glowing shape had moved him instantly forward to touch it. It was the sheer, fuck-all fear of those two inky black canyons nearly running clean through the heart-shaped Soul that had frozen him solid, keeping his tiny hands still._

_He KNEW this floating Soul before him – something nearly as large as him – was Precious beyond all shit. He would kill and kill and kill anything and everything that dared to harm the treasure before him. Because it was HER Soul. His Pun-kin, his Soulmate’s Soul._

_He finally unfroze after an aeon of watching - checking – to make sure the soul wouldn’t shatter at the slightly movement. Then, carefully, OH so carefully, Stitch inched forward to gently place his bone-hand on the warm, smooth surface. Oh God, the slight gel-like give of Her Soul felt so safe and warm - like HOME. Being true to his damned, selfish-Edgy side, he tilted his unworthy skull forward to gently place on a patch of blue warmth. Stitch sighed in bliss. This. This is what was borne for…to protect this precious bloom of a wounded soul._

_Opening his eyes to inspect the jagged black cracks damaging the precious soul, Stitch took note of every little span of the wound. It…the two cracks were brought on by betrayal of deep, intrinsic trust. The first one started at the cusp of the right curve, jagging downward nearly three-fourths through the main area. An off-shoot mid-way down shot left, nearly carving a quarter off the shape. Whatever…WHOEVER did this to his angel would die a horrible death._

_But Stitch digressed. His Angel-Cake was strong. Even if the tide of depression lapped at the jagged wounds, her soul refused to become a coward and end itself. He was awed at the thought, and not a single red coloration of Determination in her soul. Her Soul was a font of Patience and Kindness, and the combination of the two main traits kept it glowing and pushing forward._

_Finally gaining enough self-awareness, Stitch looked down at his own tiny greyish-white soul, an upside-down heart the size of his fist. Sure, it was rough at the edges and grey in some areas; the life of a bitty wasn’t easy in a world of giants, but it was His and it floated in time with hers. A tiny red-blue strand of magic pulsated between his tiny soul and her larger heart, running deep from his soul’s center to her glowing core. Stitch reverently cupped his bone-hands under a visible part of the string, gob-smacked as it twirled, fluttered and glowed. This was proof that She…was His, and He was Hers._

_Turning his eyelights slightly upward, he viewed two thinner strings – floss-thread thin – firmly lying on the skin of her soul and trailing outwards into the inky blackness. Pausing in thought, He took a guess who was on the other end of the orange and teal-colored strings. His new brothers: Skittles and Blue Quartz. Stitch was satisfied with their bonds, the colored strands gently and lovingly lying over the black jagged wounds, the strands would eventually bind tight and heal the scars._

_Something shifted and hummed a deep thrumming note. Stitch fell back to his bony butt as her soul suddenly sprouted a thick strand of red. The cord shot straight from her center and sped off into the distance. Stitch scowled dangerously. Another fucking Soul-MATE!?_

_HOW DARE THE VILE, BRIGHT CRIMSON COLOR DISTURB THIS SANCTUARY OF SERENITY AND PEACE!_

_But the interruption of crimson cord brought Stitch’s attention to something he missed at first glance. A nearly hidden strand of deep, vivid blue was buried deep within her core. It had hidden itself in the Blue of her Patience and coiled once just under the surface before shooting upward into nothingness._

_This is unexpected!? A third soulmate…a connection that superseded Stitch’s claim!? Now he was completely lost. He heard that it was rare for a person or monster to have two soulmates – a statistical something like one in ten-million – but for a soul to have THREE!? That was a little bit of crazy…a whole whale-belly of crazy! Stitch knew his Pun-kin was special, but fuck; she had three soulmates._

_The question which rang through Stitch’s head was: WOULD HE SHARE!?_

~~~

~WHO LET THE DOGS OUT, WHO, WHO, WHO WHO?!~

The god-damned infernal racket jolted Stitch out of his dream and slammed him back into reality. He, of course, growled at several stimuli: the quickly-fading memories of his Soul-Dream, the smell of her blood very close by, the thick delicious aroma of HER arousal in the air and he wasn’t the one triggering it, the answering stench of a VERY interested party’s musk, she wasn’t within arm’s reach of him and the fact he was solidly asleep seconds before.

Stitch pried his eyes open to a scene which inspired him to plot the messiest of murders; monster world be damned. That giant sack of brainless bones had his Pun-Kin dipped in his waste-of-space arm-bones. The shit-head’s skeletal hand had hers firmly cupped around a thick, glowing red erection. Well, that explained the scents of arousal. His Pun-kin had skeletophilia – had it bad. Which, considering she was Stitch’s soulmate…and apparently this giant fucktard’s Soulmate too, made sense. That’s where that infernal red cord came from.

As painfully long as the moment felt for Stitch, he only stopped growling when they both flinched and separated. His Pun-kin’s face was blushing red and he was instantly jealous…a murder most foul and heinous it was then. The world wouldn’t miss one trashy skeleton…

“Pun-kin?” The sound of his voice soothed her, and she was by his side in an instant, placing Quartz next to him. That the baby-bones was with her made Stitch relax a hair.

“Sorry, Stitch, my phone is ringing.” She answered, while digging through her bag-purse. Stitch wriggled out of the towel wrapped around him and briefly glanced at Skittles. His bro was stable enough to snooze solo for now. Quartz was tucked against himself; the Lil Creampuff really WAS tired enough to sleep.

“Hullo?”

“~Bark, bark, bark!~” a dog’s medium-pitched voice sounded through the phone. Stitch stood up, shocked.

“Uh, hi T.A.D…uh, I’m ok…”

“Wrrrrofffoo. Barkbark, Awwrooff.”

“No, I’m not at home, obviously.” His Pun-kin…UNDERSTOOD the barking!? WTF?! She was talking to a dog…swell.

Turning his now-red eyelights to the room, Stitch scanned the place for threats. Even though his magic was still sluggish from his fight and subsequent panic-episode of his Pun-kin’s injuries in the pumpkin patch, his bitty system was awake enough to take point, ruffle some feathers (and enact a murder most foul). Evidence of the episode was still around, namely her dried blood on Quartz’s clothes and the fact that he and Skittles were wearing something other than what they wore when they entered the pumpkin patch. Heh, Skittles looked bad-ass wearing a fur-lined coat and black pants. Stitch gave a quick look-over at his new duds: a maroon and crimson tie-dyed long-sleeve shirt while he still had his black shorts and ragged red shoes. Somebody…or some MONSTER must have given them new clothes since their previous shirts had bit the dust trying to staunch the flow of her blood.

Pointedly ignoring the giant ‘skelephant’ in the room, Stitch felt his eyelights pin-point out upon seeing the two troublesome Bitties from before. The red dickwad and the orange bitch that dared attack his Angel-cake. His hackles rose and a low, threatening growl started at the back of his magic throat. They were just sitting on the table, not a fucking care in the world and no sympathy towards his Soulmate.

~~Stitch could have teleported to them. He could have attacked once he discovered their magic was effectively collared. He could have bitten down hard on the Mutt’s hand, inflicting the same wounds as the bitch did to his Angel-Cake. Stitch could have then gone and punched the Razzberry prick square in the face for snarking Her, his brothers and him at the pumpkin patch. He would then be punished by the giant skeleton, giving him a solid bite or two before She would come rushing to his rescue.~~

But he didn’t. Instead, he flicked the two bitties a double F-U with bony phalanges and grabbed his front pelvis and thrust the air once in a lewd motion. Then he lasered his glowing red-eye-lights to the huge bone-dick in the room and gave his nastiest frown as he blipped to her left shoulder. The periodic barking from her phone cut through the silence as she finally answered a long series of barks.

~~~

“Look, TAD, I forgot I was supposed to pick you up from work. SORRY I’m going to be late, and I’m SORRY that I got distracted by something unexpected today.” ___ fidgeted under the heavy, one-sided argument from her monster dog neighbor.

“BBARKARKWOOF!”

“What!? No, I’m not…look, I may or may not have gotten three Bitties…” The phone was held away from her ear as her neighbor started scream-barking.

In front of her, the skeleton Sans gave her a confused look to which she just blushed, shrugged and politely turned around to carry on the conversation. Stitch had wiggled out of the towel and now stood on her shoulder, steadying himself with a strand of hair. Subconsciously, she found her free hand weaving fingers in and out of the dress-of-a-jacket’s fur-lined cuff. The fur was soft and thick, and helped take the edge off her monster neighbor yell-barking at her. ___ lifted the sleeve up and buried her nose in the fluff. It smelled like pine-resin and sweet BBQ-mustard…comforting.

“Look, ok, geez, I KNOW I’m an idiot who didn’t check the phone for the past hour, T.A.D. God, you don’t need to get yer tail in a knot.” On her shoulder, she registered Stitch bristle at the repeated insult. “Look, I’m SORRY I didn’t pick you up. I’ll…well now, why the who-ha are you chewing my head off if YOU’RE ALREADY FRICKING HOME, YOU DUMB FURRY PIECE OF…no, I’m hanging up now. Bai.”

Ending the call, ___ stood there, frustrated and tired. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she exhaled. Her dog-monster neighbor was highly annoying sometimes, and even though he was sentient monster and smart enough to work at an Animal Hospital, he was still a dog monster. A very malicious, ferocious, fluffy, adorably white-black pile of FLOOF dog monster - scourge of anti-petters everywhere. The more pets you gave, the safer you were. Not like she was in any danger…the dog-lover she was.

“Darlin’ you ok?” the husky voice of Sans and comforting tenor of Stitch both startled her.

“Oh! Shit!” She had forgotten where she was for a split-second. She spun around and blinked owlishly at the larger skeleton. “Uh, oops, sorry ya had to hear that…”

“Calm down, Pun-kin. Nothin’s gonna bite cha.” Stitch pet her temple and fussed with her hair. He could smell the building stress roll off her. “Why dun cha sit down fer a second, Angel-cake, cuddle wit Skits an’ Creampuff, k?”

“Ok.” She offered no resistance when Stitch suggested to sit back down on the couch.

Keeping a hesitant eye on Sans, she carefully scooped up Quartz and tucked him with his brother in the towel nest. Plopping down on the raggy couch, ____ brough the towel to her face and it struck her that she never really LOOKED at the tiny skeletons. In the rush of adventure, adrenaline and hype, she hadn’t stopped to really get to know her tiny trio of skeleton friends.

First there was Rainbow Skittles. She was slightly confused at the change of clothes – the grey hoodie and sweatpants were replaced with black pants and a black, fur-lined jacket like the one draped over her own shoulders. Pushing a bit of the towel back with her fingers, her eyes studied the ribcage peeking through the unzipped black jacket. The bones were so tiny and fragile. Of course, Skittles was a skeleton, so she could see straight through his ribs to his spines. When he first showed her his mutation, her curiosity flared to life, making her want to poke and prod to learn all about what made his two spines. But restraint was the option taken, since both Stitch and Quartz seemed to indicate that Skittles was fragile – the dejection he suffered reflected in the health of his bones. What the hell was wrong with the world if they didn’t want something obviously and utterly priceless like Skittles. Her sleepy little skelly. ___ had a feeling once Skittles understood SHE would NOT return him; his personality would be a joy to have. She just hoped he didn’t smoke…or be an absolute slug.

Looking to Quartz, her brave energetic crystal-thief extraordinaire, she gave a soft smile as he responded to her skull-rubs, murmuring something in his sleepy state and leaning against her finger. His skull was rounder than Skittles’ and unlike a human skull, which were hollow in the areas that cheek skin would cover, his ‘cheeks’ were full of bone. It was nearly imperceptible in a once-over glance, but once she stopped and thought back on textbook images, it was different.

From what bones of his she could see - lower arm bones - were a cream white; not a stark, eye-blindingly white oh no, but a cool ghost white that almost shimmered in certain angles of light. Five inches of heart-meltingly adorable skeleton – brave, curious about the world around him, loud, obsessed with crystals. Her amazonite pendant was still wrapped firmly around his skeletal frame like a sash and the turquoise ribbon was stained with red blood, hers from when the Pupper bitty attacked her hand.

Eh, she’d have to either wash it or buy a new ribbon, no big deal – but the amazonite was polished and clean of blood. Quartz must have wiped it off the stone, little cutie. Both brothers were so gosh darn adorable, with their tiny bones and giant personalities.

Then there was Stitch. Bringing her other hand up to gently cup her hybrid companion, the warmth he emitted was soothing and helped calm her nerves. The pressure of his tiny phalanges petting her temple and smoothing her hair was amazing for such a tiny living being. How in the solar system was she gonna take care of such three tiny skeleton-people – how did other people do it!? The fear of accidentally stepping on them was a slippery slope.

“Hey, Stitch…”

“Yea Pun-kin…”

“I…wanna go home now…”

The stress of the day finally came crashing down and she hunched over, hugging the towel-wrapped bitties to her neck. The strain of holding back tears of frustration, embarrassment and tiredness made her throat clench up uncomfortably and made her nose burn. She hoped coming to a Haunted House with Quartz, Stitch and Skittles would be fun and positive; but the shock and pain of the Pupper Bitty’s attack ruined the rest of her day. Ah…there were the tears, escaping despite the herculean effort of holding them back.

“Oh, Pun-kin…” Stitch cooed in her ear. “It’s ok…I’m right here…”

“Oh Darlin, please dun cry…” the deep voice of Sans made her flinch and her eyes shot up to the taller skeleton as he scooped her up in a cage of bone arms. “Ah’m sorry Doge hurt ya.”

“I wanna go home…” she sniffled and just…let go of her barriers and shields she normally put up when going outside. The repetitive motion of Stitch petting her temple and now the overly warm hug of the horny skeleton monster surprisingly made her feeling so, so safe and unjudged. Tears spilled from her eyes and she felt the half-scary skeleton pick her up easily and tucked her tightly against him on the couch. Something about the skeleton was exuding a long-time feeling of comfort. Even that thought sent her brain into over-drive; trying its best to over-analyze why the fuck she felt that safe around this near-stranger of a monster who nearly stuck her hand down his own pants.

“Sssshhhh, darlin…it’s the shock from bein’ attacked, ain’t it?” Sans curled protectively around her. Bone fingers carded through her hair as Stitch nuzzled his head against her chin.

“I wanna go home…I…I’m so done today…” She hiccupped and pulled Stitch off her shoulder and pressed him tightly against her chest. “I’m sorry Stitch…you wanted to do the haunted house?”

“Tch, don’t worry about th’ damned haunted shit, Angel-cake…” Stitch answered her. “Just…take a moment t’ breathe, Angel-cake. Yer safe here…trust me. Those bitties won’t touch ya again. Promise.”

Closing her eyes and leaning heavily against the larger skeleton, ___ exhaled shakily and hummed when he zipped the black, weighty jacket up around her frame. The heavy shell of the material held in her body heat and made her draw the towel-nest laden bitties closer to her chest.

“Heh, is this your jacket, skeleton dude?”

“Yup, darlin’.”

“It’s big…”

“Tch, that’s what she said…” Skeleton dude – Sans - retorted, chuckling.

“Oh my god…you are so…incorrigible.” ___ couldn’t help but snicker at the innuendo. Her right palm came up to wipe away the tears. This monster was definitely snarky.

“Eh, Pun-kin, don’t listen to him, he’s obviously compensatin’ for somethin’.” She literally felt Stitch scowl fiercely and throw IRE at the larger monster.

“Naw, tiny bones, yer jus jealous she got in mah pants first.”

“LIKE FUCKIN’ HELL THIS IS ABOUT THAT, YOU OVER-GROWN SHIT-BAG OF BONES! I’ll kill you!” Stitch fired back.

“Stitch!” __ sniffled and gave a light squeeze. “No killing people, ok?”

“Tch, fine…”

Sighing, and choosing not to respond, ___ clasped Stitch closer to her and leaned heavily on Sans. The cushion of his frame was surprisingly sturdy and warm, which was something she didn’t expected from a skeleton monster. The comfortable quiet between them felt soothing, and the lack of feeling judged for her teary episode felt so damn good. It really took the edge off her sudden crash of positivity. ___ didn’t know what to expect next, but now she wouldn’t be surprised if a unicorn opened the door. (please be a unicorn…that would be fecking awesome…)

“So you’re a skeleton…monster?”

“Naw, Ah’m a shark monster, darlin.” Sans quipped back. ___’s brows furrowed, and she pulled back to look up at his face. The look set on his face was as serious as all heck as he gazed back into her eyes.

“Uh…n-no…”

“Uh, yea. Ah’m totally a shark monster. Can’t cha see meh teeth.” Here, he unhinged his jaw and pointed quite resolutely to the several serrated and triangular teeth that lined his bone.

“WTF, you’re not a shark monster, dumb-ass. You’re totally a skeleton.” Was this monster a moron?

“No way, chickie, Ah’m hundred percent a shark monster.” Sans insisted. The heavy silent nearly suffocated the room as they both stared at each other.

“Yer a fuckin’ moron monster, that’s what cha are, ya over-grown pile of dumb-shit.” Stitch blurted out. The quickness her brain switched from tears/stress to stunned hilarity was amazing. Laughter escaped her throat and the stress melted away as more laughter followed.

~~~

~WHO LET THE DOGS OUT, WHO, WHO, WHO WHO?!~

Sans flinched as the phone blasted through the tension like a sledgehammer and he carefully unclasped his claws from where he had gotten a handful of the thick jacket armoring her shorter frame. Talk about fucking Random Chance blue-balling him. If it wasn’t her phone, he’d instantly crush the damned device and grind it into powder.

Backing off so she could answer the twat who decided to call her - it had better not be a boyfriend – he turned his attention to the raging magic in his pants. God damned if she didn’t set him on fucking fire. All prior bedmates paled in comparison to the raging hard-on she gave him.

“Hullo?” Her delightfully honeyed voice was soothing music to his senses and Sans grinned.

“~Bark, bark, bark!~” a dog’s medium-pitched voice sounded through the phone and that oh-so-familiar voice quickly wiped his smile clean off his jaw. Her neighbor was That Monster!?

“Uh, hi T.A.D…uh, I’m ok…”

“Wrrrrofffoo. Barkbark, Awwrooff.”

Oh, hit him with a rusty shovel. Sans groaned mentally and felt his annoyance replace his raging boner. This…was aggravatingly unexpected. Totally Annoying Dog/T.A.D. was the bane of him and his brother’s very existence. Being the last two of a nearly-extinct race of skeleton monsters; he and his brother had to be more cautious of the Dog monster population – the ancient trope of dogs and their bones being insanely true. Papyrus had overcome that fear and now commanded the loyalty of the dog guards. If any of the dog monsters messed with him or Papyrus, there would be hell to pay. But T.A.D was the worst; instead of trying to kill them like the rest of the underground, he loved stealing, hiding their bone attacks, utterly disrespected Papyrus and drove them both up the wall with how he annoyingly got into everything; including their business.

The damned floofy cute looking dog was the most annoying monster in the Underground – the insane amount of times he and his brother had to kick the nosy little Shiba-canine out of their house before Frisk broke the Barrier came in close second to the number of times that damned brat Reset. Speak of the brat and she shall speak. Sans felt his phone vibrate twice, and he turned his attention to it, giving his Darlin some privacy to talk to her accursed neighbor.

_Royal-Brattiness_  
_*Congrats on yr soulmate_

_Bone-Man_  
_WTF, You brat_

_Royal-Brattiness_  
_*jus dun mention it aloud, tiny spies in room_

Sans stared, shocked, at the texts the brat sent him – it creeped him the fuck out Frisk already knew about his soulmate. He certainly didn’t FEEL a fucking reset. Damn that royally-adopted child of kindness. A shiver went down his spine as he contemplated the science behind her two simple texts. He applied his thumb phalanges to his touch-screen phone and fired back.

_Bone-Man:_  
_GTF away from me ya weirdo, you promised not to reset again…_

_Royal Brattiness_  
_*yer welcome, Sans, dun make me RELOAD agin. Groundhog’s Day. Make her laugh_

He sputtered at the movie reference and promptly turned his phone off. So Frisk reloaded instead of reset. He growled at the implications and glared at Titan and Doge. Tiny snitches indeed, go figure Papyrus always knew when shit went down. Well, shit was already going down if Frisk knew he had a soulmate. God Damn universe hated his guts and Lady Luck was somewhere else gallivanting with some dick.

“Look, I’m SORRY I didn’t pick you up. I’ll…well now, why the who-ha are you chewing my head off if YOU’RE ALREADY FRICKING HOME, YOU DUMB FURRY PIECE OF…no, I’m hanging up now. Bai.”

Sans flicked his eyelights to her as she ended the call and felt a growl of distaste start low in his rib-cage. That damned Annoying Dog had upset his Darlin’ and now he decided he was out for blood. But first, to calm his little firecracker down before she started crying. Sans could smell the tension roiling off her muscles.

“Darlin’ ya ok?” His husky voice made her flinch, snapping her out of whatever dark thoughts were rattling around her pretty lil head.

“Oh! Shit!” His tiny Darlin’ had forgotten where she was for a split-second. She spun around and blinked owlishly at him. “Uh, oops, sorry ya had to hear that…”

The apology that left her lips was processed and ignored. She did not have to apologize for her shitty neighbor’s attitude. Sans’s ability to speak abandoned him as her absolute Cuteness floored him right there. Her eyes sparkled with moisture as she stood there looking as helpless as a newborn fawn. His grey soul stuttered.

“Calm down, Pun-kin. Nothin’s gonna bite cha.” Her Edgy Bitty fussed with her hair and did a man’s job in helping to calm her down. Sans practically smelled her stress building. “Why dun cha sit down fer a second, Angel-cake, cuddle wit Skits an’ Creampuff, k?”

The aggressive bitty glared acid and death at him as she moved to the couch and scooped up her other two bitties, hugging them to her chest. This whole situation threw his mind into uncharted chaos. Nothing like this had happened before in ANY of the Resets. Normally when interacting with women, Sans always laid the sexual charm on fast and thick; foregoing forging any lasting bonds – but now he stood in front of his soulmate. A soulmate whose soul sung a high-strung tension of being overwhelmed. Studying her for a long moment as she hunched over her trio of bitties, Sans felt his mind scramble for a solution to handle this situation. Frisk mentioned to make her laugh…oh shit! There goes the tear-works and the sight of her crying like that wrenched his soul damn near into dust.

“Oh Darlin, please dun cry…” He grated out of his clenched throat. Rushing forward to scoop her up in his arms and start soothing her troubled soul, Sans swore he melted – she was so soft and warm in his jacket. “Ah’m sorry Doge hurt ya.”

“I wanna go home…” she sniffled and just…went limp in his embrace. Aaand there goes his functioning mind again. Fuck. She was too Cute.

“Sssshhhh, darlin…it’s de shock from bein’ attacked, ain’t it?” He curled protectively around her, carding his phalanges through her hair. Hair so soft and alluring, he never wanted to stop touching it.

“I wanna go home…I…I’m so done today…” She hiccupped. The way she sounded so, so tired nearly compelled Sans to move Heaven and Earth to fulfill her wish. It was a damn shame he didn’t know where she lived – something he would have to fix promptly. But for now, he had a Mate to protect and sooth. His hands moved before he could think and the zipper on his overly large jacket was already up to her face. Good. She was protected by his trusty jacket. Being covered by his clothes and scent helped calm him down – and thus, helped him regain his mind from vacancy. It was quite late in the afternoon, so whatever had happened to her during the day must have been stressful enough to break her down into tears. Sans internally whined at himself, ultimately regretting not being there by her side. _His Soul, Better Half, Mate…. Mine. Mine, MINE! CLAIM…KISS…BITE…FUCK…KNOT…NOW!_

“Heh, is this your jacket, skeleton dude?”

The sudden interruption of her cute voice broke into his thoughts. He paused his hair-petting to look down at her. His tiny little Sugar-Shot was bundled up in his coat, with her trio of tiny skelly dudes and leaning against his frame. Pure Bliss.

“Yup, darlin’.” He answered her.

“It’s big…”

“Tch, dat’s wha’ she said…” Sans chuckled loudly, knowing she most likely walked into that one.

“Oh my god…you are so…incorrigible.” The way she responded to his humor with scoffing, lilting laughter sent his Soul soaring sky-high. He was in Love – no two ways about it, He was lost and never wanted to be found.

“Eh, Pun-kin, don’t listen to him, he’s obviously compensatin’ for somethin’.” Her nasty, foul and endearing Edgy bitty poked his tiny head out from the zipped-up jacket and threw an obvious acidic barb at him. Oh! How Sans wanted to get to know this little flaming pile of snark and become besties.

“Naw, tiny bones, yer jus jealous she got in mah pants first.” Sans leaned comfortably against the couch and needled the bitty right back. It felt so damn great; he saw himself in the tiny Edgy and it was awesome.

“LIKE FUCKIN’ HELL THIS IS ABOUT THAT, YOU OVER-GROWN SHIT-BAG OF BONES! I’ll kill you!” The angry little skelly was now standing on the zipper top and glaring daggers at him.

“Stitch! No killing people, ok?” His little mate ordered the tiny skelly. He felt his mouth stretch into a grin at how she could turn something so bossy into something worth obeying.

“Tch, fine…”

Sighing and squelching down his rising urge to pick a fight with her tiny pile of attitude, Sans just continued to adore her hair. Amazing how finding a soulmate changed his view of such simple things – hair for example. Normally, when showing other women a ‘good-time’ he’d not pay much attention to the strands of dead cells other than pulling and wrapping it around his phalanges to gain a better grip to hit certain ‘spots’ better; but Her hair was magical; soft and scented like tea leaves and mint.

“So you’re a skeleton…monster?” Again her voice demanded his attention and Sans obeyed.

“Naw, Ah’m a shark monster, darlin.” Sans quipped back. Her cute little brows furrowed, and she pulled back to look up at his face. The look set on his face was as serious as all heck as he gazed back into her eyes.

“Uh…n-no…” She sounded to confused, not able to get if he was joking or not.

“Uh, yea. Ah’m totally a shark monster. Can’t cha see meh teeth.” Here, Sans unhinged his jaw and pointed quite resolutely to the several serrated and triangular teeth that lined his bone.

“WTF, you’re not a shark monster, dumb-ass. You’re totally a skeleton.”

“No way, chickie, Ah’m hundred percent a shark monster.” Sans insisted. The heavy silent nearly suffocated the room as they both stared at each other. Laughter was itching in his throat, but now it was a stare-off – who would break first? Who would cave into the obvious hilarity of the situation and laugh?

“Yer a fuckin’ moron monster, that’s what cha are, ya over-grown pile of dumb-shit.” Her Edgy Bitty blurted out. “Are ya seriously dumb enough t’ believe yer a shark monster!?”

She broke first, that titillating laughter of hers ringing through the air which, in turn, made Sans laugh. His mate looked thousand times better laughing than crying.

~~~

Elsewhere:

Blinking his black, shiny eyes, TAD glowered at his custom-made phone. SHE HUNG UP ON HIM! Well, he wasn’t THAT mad, just super concerned. When the Pet-Goddess hadn’t shown up to drive him home from his work, he figured she air-headed out and was most likely half-brain deep into a very intense match of Fortnite and would be a few minutes late. It happened six times already and would happen again. But when an hour had passed, TAD bummed a ride from Dogami and Dogressa.

When he finally got home, TAD used his monster-powers and annoyingly snuck into her place. He was annoying, yes, but still respected her space, so he only appeared on the inside of her front door. Barking twice, which thanks to his magical-translating doggie-kiss she consented to, would be amazingly translated to: Hay, girl, you home!?

Nobody answered, so he took it upon himself to investigate and barreled up the stairs to the second storey. It was empty. No Pet-Goddess neighbor in the kitchen, living room, human-potty room or sleepy-time room. Huh. It was the weekend, so she wasn’t at work. TAD spent a few minutes whining in the Sadness and buried his nose in her grey-blue couch. Then, looking at the clock, and realizing he spent more than a FEW minutes in the Sadness, he decided to call with his magical, dog-friendly phone!

He may have been a bit overly annoying with his frustrations and yelled at her; but to hear she was alive and ok was a huge relief. That girl needed a partner to get her out of the house. But when she said she may have gotten Bitties – plural – TAD was shocked. That was excellent news! TAD couldn’t wait to meet his new tiny skeleton neighbors. Doing zoomies around her place to burn off excess excitement, he nearly spilled the water bowl of water in his speedy need to refuel and hydrate.

Now all he had to do was play the waiting game. She would be home soon now, and he would introduce himself to the bitties – setting their fears about dogs at ease. He wouldn’t chew them too much…hehehehehe, maybe just carry them around like a baby puppy in his mouth.


	17. Too Many Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleepy Head Skellys
> 
> a tasty preview, this will be reuploaded when finished.

“Uuhh…”

Turning to his other side, Stitch cracked a grin upon seeing the rare and elusive Lil Bro’s eyelights. It amazed him how his other new brother had SLEPT THROUGH THE WHOLE DRIVE HOME and NIGHT.

“Mornin’ ya absolute sleepy skelly.” Stitch jibbed light-heartedly. Pun-kin had tucked Skits in right next to her last night while he and Quartz went on the second pillow.

“Huh, wha?” Skittles pried his now-healthier looking eyelids open and looked around in a daze. There was just enough light for both skeletons to comfortably see each other’s faces. “Stitch?”

“That’s my name, Bro, dun wear it out.”

“Har-de-har.” Skittles yawned out a laugh. His tiny bone spines popped, and he let out a fairly lewd moan.

“OMG, Skits, that…EW!” Stitch immediately snorted and gently pushed his brother over on the pillow. “Ya Perv!” Skittles toppled over and his face was stained with a pale orange hue.

“Oops, sorry, Bro.” The Lil Bro looked embarrassed and buried his face in the pillow.

Er, maybe Stitch should lay off the teasing on Skittles for now. His new Bro was still fragile and settling in.

“Sorry, Skits, yer not a perv…I was jus’ teasing.”

“Its…okay, bro.” Skittles slowly lifted his head and looked around the room, giving another yawn. “Huh, so we made it home?”

“Yup, its good ta see ya awake, sleepy. How ya feelin?” Stitch stood up and reached as high as he could, giving his red-t-shirt and black sleep-shorts a brush over.

“I feel good.” Skittles gave a surprised smile and continued to visually investigate the new surroundings. The heavy curtains blocked out most of the light, but both Bitties could tell the sun had risen. Also, the digital clock on the bed-side table didn’t hurt either, reading 7:01 with soft green lights instead of the harsh red lasers.

“That’s great Bro.”

Now it was morning and Stitch finally looked around as Skittles climbed over to her face. She was still half-asleep, and Stitch didn’t mind. Of course, it would be just early enough for him to sneak out and investigate the rest of the apartment while his Pun-kin slept. From the sound of it, the four unwanted visitors were silent. Hopefully they locked the door before it hit them on the way out.

“Uh, where’s my bro?” Skittles sat back up and looked around the room.

“Tch, if yer worried about yer bro, don’t be, Skits, that lil Creampuff found his treasure.” Stitch flicked a thumb bone behind them and Skittles grunted as they viewed the third Bitty.

The cat-onesie-wearing Blueberry was neck-deep in a pile of various gemstones and crystals on the bookshelf/headboard. The black-cat fuzzy bitty-jamas clashed with the multitude of colorful crystals shoved into the corner of the headboard cubby. Quartz was half-draped, half-buried in the cold stones, and blissfully slept with his face angled enough for a trail of teal drool to stain his mandible.

“My bro’s so cool…” Skittles exhaled wistfully.

“By cool ya mean an annoyin’ butt-munch that wakes up at the ass-crack-o-dawn to start draggin’ crystals ‘round like a dragon’s horde of gold.” Stitch grumbled amusedly.

~~~

“My bro’s so cool…” a soft voice exhaled wistfully.

“By cool ya mean an annoyin’ butt-munch that wakes up at the ass-crack-o-dawn to start draggin’ crystals ‘round like a dragon’s horde of gold.” Her Trog’s voice grumbled good-naturedly.

____’s upward sleep spiral ended with hearing those words and she prayed, thankful to god, that her body was groggy enough not to start laughing. But right now, she had her eyes half-closed/half-opened enough to barely view two out of her three new…what were they exactly? Friends? Housemates? Tiny family? They certainly weren’t pets. Her three new tiny Skeletons.

She shifted, pushing her body out to stretch and begin the process of waking up – however, she faked still being asleep and settled down after her stretch. ___ FELT them watching her because Stitch shushed Skittles and their voices died down. It was pure luck that her body awoke on the left side, so her face was in the middle of the bed. All the better to do something her brain just planned. So when she heard Skittles shift and start to move towards her, a smile escaped to her lips as her hand darted out to scoop-capture him, drawing him in to his doom for a snuggly warm hug against her shirt-covered clavicle. She would have snagged Stitch too, but he suddenly vanished from her seeking hand, little stinker. The way Skittles squeaked in surprise was utterly adorable and that sent Stitch into a fit of laughter.

“Mornin’ Pun-kin.” Stitch wheezed out from his doubled-over position of laughter in the other pillow. Opening her eyes to gaze back into his currently blue eyelights, she yawned widely and stretched more.

“Morning Trog. Noticed you escaped my clutches.”

“Hehehe, I knew ya were awake, Angel-cake. Ya can’t fool me.” He grinned back, reaching out to pat her nose.

“Morning, Lady.” Skittles soft voice vibrated against her neck and she smiled more, gently pressing him tighter against her skin.

“Sorry if I scared you, Skittles, I couldn’t help but hug ya.”

“It’s ok…” he sounded embarrassed and slightly lost. She relented and gently set Skittles on the pillow after making him turn orange-faced from a kiss on the skull.

“AH! GOOD MORNING CRYSTAL GODDESS!” the third bitty gleefully exclaimed from above her head.

___ moved and craned her gaze from the pillows to the headboard cubby; and darn if her cheeks started hurting from smiling. Quartz was beaming back at her while being half buried in what looked like a good chunk of her crystal collection. The nearly two-inch-long amethyst & ametrine tower points were propped between his tiny black-cat-pajamaed legs, while her aventurine tiger was clasped firmly between his arms like a plushie. The humongous rose-quartz heart and slightly smaller amethyst heart were shoved in the bookcase/backboard corner and the moss-agate palm stone was his pillow. The naturally-formed fluorite and clear quartz points were on his body and the sodalite hedgehog carving was sitting on his feet, along with the dime-sized larimar crescent moon and green kyanite palm stone. The hexagonal rhodonite was wedge against his back and the natural amethyst point and amazonite heart were nearly covering his black-cat-onesie frame. Upon closer inspection in the dim light, she also saw her dime-sized amethyst pyramid peeking from under his pajamas.

“Quartz…what on earth!?”

“Tell me ‘bout it, Pun-kin.” Stitch grumbled, climbing from the mattress to the headboard as she finally sat up in the bed. “The Creampuff went bonkers last night when he found your shrine.”

The laughter escaping from her mouth made Quartz and Stitch chuckle along with.

“Ya little silly bird.” ___ snorted and turned to completely face the crystal-hording bitty. Skittles finally gave a small laugh as he flopped onto her top-thigh.

“My Bro’s got the best nose for the things he loves.”

“NYEHAHAH, AND FOR THE PEOPLE I LOVE TOO, LIKE YOU BRO! GOOD MORNING, RAINBOW SKITTLES! PARDON ME IF I DON’T RUSH TO HUG YOU, BUT…” Here Quartz paused and looked about his pile of bliss, grinning wider. “I’M QUITE COMFORTABLE HERE AT THE MOMENT.” The tiny teal blush that bloomed across his nasal cavity was just adorable.

“It’s ok, Bro. I’m happy ya found such a huge pile of crystals.” Skittles smiled softly at his brother before remembering about his Curious Lady and other brother. He squeaked and buried his face into her shirt. “Sorry…Lady…”

“Awh, its ok, Skittles…Quartz…is…did you stuff some crystals in your pajamas?”


	18. Gyftmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Putting a pause on your regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you Gyftmas...here is a sneak peek
> 
> I'm SLOWLY working on the chapter, I haven't given up. I think I'm 4/7s of the way done

Bitey POV:

Bitey hovered over her fingers and absolutely let his tail go. The excitement thrumming through his system was uncontainable and the only outlet was to let his tail wag. The brightly colored paper – a sparkly black and green T-Rex print – flashed under the light above. He just couldn’t help himself and he launched himself at her fingers and clasped them tightly.

“BITEY! What are you doing!?” Her amused voice made him grin.

“Why you wrap that?” Bitey’s single working red-eyelight was locked on the black and printed-picture box of a small oven for Bitties. Bitey wanted to chew open the cardboard box and make an unholy mess of slobbery trash all over the table. Wanted too SO BAD! But then that would mean Bitey would end up on Santa’s bad list and get coal for Gyftmas. He didn’t want that at all. So he chose to grab her fingers and held tight – his tail swipe-swiping across the wrapping paper at a fast pace.

“I’m helping out Santa Claus by wrapping your brother’s gift, Bitey.”

Bitey paused and tore his eye off the box and raised it to her lagoon green eyes. She was helping Santa Claus! She must be an Elf! Ah...that would mean…

“Chef is Good Boy?”

“Yup! Santa whispered to Jacob that you and your brother have been really Good Boys this year.”

Bitey’s eyes went wide with over-whelming joy! He was right, this woman was an Elf-on-the-Shelf! And she reported straight to Santa Claus! Bitey whined with happiness and moved to hug her wrist in a tight happy-hug. He and his brother were Good Boys! Santa was going to come Gyftmas night and leave presents!

“Bitey Help!” He stepped back and surveyed the round white table. “Uh. How?”

The woman above him chuckled and released the T-rex paper and pointed to the side of the table.

“You wanna help me wrap presents, Bitey?”

“Yea!” His eyes were bright and excited.

If this woman needed help in helping Santa Claus, then Bitey would do anything to make her job just a bitty-bit easier. After all, Santa Claus had a HUGE job in traveling the world in a single night to give gifts to good boys, girls, monsters and bitties all over the place. Bitey remembered Chef tell him all about the red-wearing jolly man. Bitey was SO excited when his awesomely cool and super smart brother read him a book about the biggest holiday of the year. After barely hanging on and sitting through the rest of the book, Bitey had rushed off to Jacob to hunt down a pencil and paper to write Santa Claus.

The task of writing a Good Boy letter to the magical Santa took all day; and Bitey didn’t mind at all when it was time to leave to go over to his new friend’s house. He clutched the paper and pencil tightly to his chest and vibrated as Jacob drove to the pile of houses next door. With Her and Skittles help, Bitey managed to write a super nice letter to the North Pole. Then Skittles explained that it was also a tradition to add a list of what you wanted for Gyftmas to Santa. Bitey was over the moon with joy. Santa Claus gave presents to good boys and girls! Bitey was a good boy! He was so proud of himself when his brain behaved that day and Bitey added to his Santa Letter asking for Pikachu and beef stew and chew sticks. It was the best thing ever to be carried out to Her mailbox and stick the letter in. Bitey’s letter was being sent to Santa Claus!

That was years and years ago, it seemed, but now Bitey was back in Her place and she was helping Santa out.

“Bitey…focus, my dear!” Her voice cut through his thinking and Bitey looked up. Her face was so gentle and happy.

“Bitey here.” He stood back up and grinned.

“Wonderful! Please hand me the tape, ok?”

Bitey looked down at his arms and understood what he had been doing. She asked him to get the new tape thing from the floor because her other one had run out. Bitey had done just that, making it back onto the table before spacing out. He whined. Bitey had been doing so good being focused and helping out; but his brain didn’t behave. He forgot again.

“Ok, my dear Bitey, its ok.” Her voice caught his attention again and he dropped the tape role to reach out to her. Her gentle hands paused moving the paper and scooped him up, bringing Bitey to her face for a positive kiss on his face.

“Bitey forgot again, Sorry.” He sighed and hugged her thumb. “Bitey still good boy?”

“But of course! Bitey is always good. Let’s take a break ok. You’ve been so helpful.” Her beautiful voice was a balm on his building stress and Bitey nodded, letting go of his frustration of his lack of focus.

“Pikachu?” He asked Her as she moved away from the table.

“Yea, you can play with Pikachu.”

Bitey giggled and wriggled to be put down on the floor to race over to her two fluffy Pikachu plushies. He body slammed into them and gurgled with joy. She giggled at just how adorably precious Bitey was and decided to sit on the grey couch for a quick mental break. Skittles was in the bedroom wrapping his own gifts. ___ wondered if he needed any help.

~~~

Skittles POV:

Skittles felt his tongue peek out from his non-pointy teeth as he focused on the wrapping paper before him and grinned. It was just one of the habits he had formed in his recovery process when he finally accepted he was in his forever home. His Curious Lady was the best ever and it was his solemn duty to make sure he would do his best wrapping Gyftmas gifts. That’s why he commandeered the bedroom and firmly told his Lady to not enter until he was done wrapping.

Which is where he stood now, his tiny bone feet standing on the white-side of the candy-cane patterned paper with a sharp cutting bone in his hand. (There weren’t any bitty-sized scissors at hand and his Lady understandably didn’t want him using an Ex-acto blade.) Around him were the present he ultimately chose for the select few people in his life.

The gift before him on the wrapping paper was hand-painted with the paints and supplies his dear Curious Lady got him after his first week of putting up with her and his brothers. It was a loving gift to re-affirm that she was NOT going to return him because he had a skeletal mutation. The ten-by-five-inch canvas depicted a simple scene of a few crystals in her collection sitting on a velvety maroon clothe. His Pack was simply floored upon seeing Skittle’s innate skill as a painter. His first owner had been an Art Enthusiast and painter by heart.

For his super awesomely cool brother, Quartz, he found the best gift ever: a five-dollar gold-bar mystery box containing various gemstones and semi-precious jewels. One had to scrape away the dust to dig for treasure, but it was perfect nonetheless.

For Stitch, his bossy-pants older brother, Skittles got a pack of differently flavors candy-canes and a bitty-shirt stating in bold red print: ‘Bone to be Wild.’ He and his Curious Lady both got a chuckle out of the Pun-based shirt and Skits knew Stitch would love it.

For the third skeleton in his life, Bitey, Skittles had to think a good while for the perfect gift. Since finding the poor amnesic Pure Bite Bitty a few days after Halloween, Skittles and the knuckle-headed chew-monster had bonded fairly quickly. It would have been tragic after finding Bitey’s frantically-searching owner and returning him had they not discovered the guy lived in the posh neighborhood just minutes down the road. Now, like best friends, he and Bitey often got to hang out during the day while Bitey’s human went to work. (One might even say Bitey was his date-mate, but Skittles was digressing.) For Bitey, Skittles had chosen a pack of Pokémon figures, a Pikachu plushie and a HUGE cow-bone thigh filled with peanut butter.

He chuckled to himself, just imagining the look on Bitey’s face Gyftmas morning when the chew-monster opened the gift. The Pure Bite’s tail would crank up and wag so ferociously it would fall off. It had happened once, comically enough, and Skittles would make it happen again. That crazy, slobber-toothed cuddle-bug.

Skittles asked for help in obtaining something for Sans, the tall skeleton soulmate of his Curious Lady, and together they came up with tropical-flavored cigarettes (as a gag-gift) and a super-cool tie-dye shirt with a bone motif.

For Sans’s brother, Papyrus, Skittles got the captain of the Royal Guard a history book about knights and warriors throughout the ages of human history. Finally, he got a huge foam penguin and black top hat for the dog monster next door. Because that was what TAD was into.

His tiny bitty energy had helped him in wrapping nearly all of the presents and he had two more to finish. He needed a break and eat some food to recharge. Skittles paused his massive task and stepped back, looking around her bedroom. It was quiet in the way that made him miss his brothers. Quartz and Stitch chose to go with Sans when the tall skeleton drove back to his hometown: New Ebott City for some heavy-duty Gyftmas shopping. It had been three days without his brothers and Skittles was beginning to miss them.

All-so-familiar giggling and shouts of Pikachu could be heard in from the main room. Skittles grinned lazily and straightened his frame with a stretch. That would be the end-signal to Bitey’s attention span. A break was deserved, and Skits still had two more days before Gyftmas.

Teleporting to the bed and grabbing the pink blanket, he threw it over the last two unwrapped gifts before blipping to the door and grasping the well-worn cord that allowed him to open the human-sized handle. Skittles snuck out of the bedroom and peeked around the corner. Bitey was splayed on the floor playing with Lady’s Pikachu plushies. The taller Bitty was absolutely an angel.

~~~

___ POV:

Sitting on the couch to watch the chew-monster Bitey role around on the floor with her Pikachu plushies, ___ smiled. Leaning back and bringing her palms up to rub her eyes, she sighed. Gyftmas/Christmas/Winter Holidays – all of the holiday positivity was incoming so fast and it was a far cry from her previous thoughts and dark mindset of last year. She was thankful for it to. Everything was new and different – namely the outstanding fact of having two Soulmates in the form of skeleton monsters. Whooo boy was THAT a doozy of a discovery. Not that she had anything against monsters, but that deep-down secret fantasy of finding One’s other half in the wide, wide world was a hum-dinger of an acceptance. Stitch and his merciless teasing was a joy to live with. Also, finding out that her Sans was technically loaded to boot was…something she needed to not let change her – even though that dumb horny skeleton was going to spoil her rotten with always getting those pointless collectible anythings she wanted.

But now, it was Gyftmas/Christmas and she actually had PEOPLE who genuinely cared about her to spend it with!? She was gonna do it right this time. But it was SO much WORK! Writing down lists of what to get whom, making sure the lights and decorations were Bitey-proof, doing her best to not spill any gift-secrets to two certain begging Bitties; making sure to answer her phone when her dumb Dork of a Soulmate texted asking if she was ok: Oy, it was something else, something spectacular to experience. Not to mention having three demanding Bitties who were thick as thieves about to go through their second major holiday was going to be a blast.

“Lady?” Speaking of Bitties, she opened her eyes to see her Lil Bro Bitty, Skittles standing in front of her with a lazy grin on his smug little face. ___ was so happy to see her MIA Skittles. Little paint-monkey had banned her from the bedroom right after lunch and it had been two hours since.

“Yo, Skits, sup.” She smirked down at him and reach up to stretch out her arms.

“You doing ok there, darlin?”

“Yea, yea, I am…just…I have sooooo much to do still…”

“Tch, tell me about it.” The grey and blue-suited bitty reached up and climbed up her leg to settle on her lap. “But hey, if Sans, Q and Trog are doing heavy duty shopping, I’m sure this Gyftmas is going to awesome regardless.”

“Yea…I should call them and see what they’re up to, ya think?” ___ huffed and gently curled her hand around him.

“Naw, they’ve called you eight times already, darlin. They ain’t going anywhere.” The grin finally slipped onto her lips and they both watched quietly as Bitey was having a blast on the floor with some Pokémon stuff. It was heart-clenchingly adorable to have the Pure Bite Bitty in their lives. Jacob, Bitey’s care-taker and super food guy wasn’t bad either. The guy was eternally grateful to her and her bitties for finding and taking care of the amnesic skeleton. Her Phone buzzed.

“Ugh, if that’s the Trog again I’m going to send him a picture of poop.” Muttering to herself and winking at Skittles, she pulled up the text.

_Jacob-Cook:_   
_*How’s Bitey; behaving I hope._

_Bitey-Mama_   
_Yea, he’s so cute with his Pikachus. He’s been doing really good today._

Smiling and showing the text to Skittles, they both glanced at the other wriggly skeleton. He didn’t have a care in the world right now, sitting in between both Pikachu plushies and having a conversation about Santa Claus.

_Bitey-Mama:_   
_I’ma kidnap Bitey and luv him forever._

_Jacob-Cook:_   
_*Haha, you’re hilarious. I know where you live, woman._

_Bitey-Mama_   
_:P_

_Jacob-Cook_   
_*Wanted to let you know that Sans sent me an invite to their Gyftmas celebration. Wanted to run it by you if you’re ok with it. If seems your b/f likes Bitey too._

Feeling her brow lift in surprise, ___ leaned back on the couch and let Skittles lounge on her leg. Was she ok with a totally ‘not’ hot guy join in on what she thought was just a monster exclusive (and the Tiny Human soulmate) celebration. Eh, why not, the totally up-tight and militant-driven Papyrus seemed to get along with the Jacob. Plus, Bitey would be with more friends to keep an eye on the amnesic chew-monster. The thought of Bitey getting lost in all the wrapping paper and excitement flitted through her mind. Speaking of which, he had wandered off to the white Gyftmas tree near her fireplace and was eyeing it with Chewing intent.

“Bitey!”

“Wha!?” The totally-not-guilty-looking Bitty whipped around at his name and looked at her.

“What are Tree Rules…” She stated firmly, yet lovingly.

“Tree for Santa gifts. No chewing.”

“Yes, correct.”

“But Bitey wanna chew!” He stomped his foot and scooted closer to the tree.

“Bitey…”

“Mama!”

“Love, don’t worry, I got this.” Skittles patted her hip and got off her leg to blip and grab a hefty, Bitty-friendly chew-bone.

“Hey, Bitey, would chewing this bone taste better than a fake plastic tree?” Skittles stood in front of the chew-monster and leaned purposefully on the five-inch-tall wishbone. The Lil Bro had Bitey’s full attention and scooted towards Skits instead of the tree. “Tell ya what, Bitey, you chew on the bone and we’ll take a snuggle nap afterwards, ok?”

“Yes!”

___ smirked at how smoothly her little paint-monkey handled Bitey. It was so cute how the two Bitties seemed to get along.

_Bitey-Mama:_   
_Sure, you can come, but do you have time to go next state over. Sans might drag us there for round two of Gyftmas gifts._

_Jacob-cook:_   
_*Sounds great! I’ll clear my sched and tell Chef!_

Good, ___ thought, Chef was an absolute doll too. Smile set on her lips, ___ put her phone down to watch the two bitties on the floor before letting her eyes drift off to zone-out on the Gyftmas tree. It was a lovely white thing; Sans had insisted on buying a fake white tree. (He had something against the normal green pine-trees.)

Shiny red orbs and sparkling black snowflakes were the majority of the ornaments; and went well the gleaming red and blue lights. Her boys went gaga went making popcorn and puff-ball garland and that hung haphazardly around the tree’s bottom. The rest of the ornaments were random things her posse of skeleton boys begged her to get at the local craft store. Boy was THAT shopping trip a Hoot and Holler.

She had picked a delicate glass unicorn with a glittery horn, an intricate golden snowflake, a couple of icicle-drops the length of Quartz, an origami glass crane, a green & blue sea-glass tree, a teal glitter orb and tree, and an adorably accurate penguin with its baby.

Stitch had chosen a glitter-encrusted pink flamingo with a white tutu and Santa hat, a twirl of clear glass bones, a blobfish (where the HELL he found a blobfish ornament was BEYOND her), a unicorn reindeer in blue, a red and blue buttoned star, a slice of watermelon, little round penguin with a red-white scarf and an orange octopus sitting on a blue orb wearing a red santa-hat.

Quartz had chosen a beautiful white prancing reindeer, a feathery white dove, a plate of glitter-drizzled pancakes, a blue-clad santa, a mitten-wearing squirrel, a snow-dusted green pine tree, a delicate glass holiday wreath and a candy-cane holding skeleton with a green ear-muffs.

Skittles had gone with tamer choices: like an origami music-sheet angel with feather wings, a huge green glass orb with glitter swirls, a clear plastic ballerina with a pearlescent finish, a santa with a paint smock, two crossed candy-canes, a sequined narwhal and a glittery brown rabbit.

Bitey and his tall brother were even sucked into the tree-decorating spirit: Bitey chose a Santa-hat Pikachu, a set of six poke ball glass orbs, a pineapple, a chicken wing, a glass slice of bacon and a true-to-heart classic Santa Claus with white mittens while Chef had selected a beautiful monarch butterfly, stained-glass pointed star, Santa with a fawn, blown-glass bowl of Ramen, Santa-hatted snowman and a peppermint swirl candy.

Sans had given her puppy-dog eyes when he showed her the four ornaments he chose: a green pickle, an avocado on toast, a hand-blown jellyfish and an accurately shaped goldfish. Why skeletons were so damn weird with their decoration tastes was truly and forever beyond ____. But her skeleton monsters all had a blast choosing the tree-décor. The look on the cashier’s face when all of the things were rung up made her Redberry and Dork Soulmate laugh ruthlessly.

All of their ornaments hung intermittently throughout the tree. It was such a bizarrely decorated tree; but it was their tree and she wasn’t going to change anything about it. It went well with the shiny silver tinsel length hung with care along the fireplace mantle.

Smiling with a sense of peace, ___ turned her eyes down to Skits and Bitey, who was going to town on the brown-chew stick Skits gave him. She snorted when Skittles looked at her and gave a blatant wink. Little paint monkey…

~~~

New Ebott City, Stitch POV:

Looking at the mess of gifts, ribbons, paper and supplies, Stitch snorted and glanced over his shoulder to the smoking bag of lazy bones draped on the bed in the darkened room. His titan skeleton counterpart was lounging on his messy bed and looking to all the world care-free. The only illumination to see by was the occasional flare of the red echo cigarette and the two strands of red and green lights framing the dingy window and doorway. It made for an excellent atmosphere for gift-wrapping. Which was what he and Sans had been doing for the last two hours. The Creampuff opted to help the Gnarly Edge-Lord in the kitchen with the Gyftmas food preparation.

“Ya know, the gifts ain’t gonna wrap themselves, ya bone-head.” Stitch snorted and dropped the tape roll to give his ribs a mighty fine scratch. His bones itched to be touched and petted by his Soulmate. It had been two days since Stitch last saw her, but that was ok, because he was gonna make up for lost time Gyftmas eve, day and night. She was going to be so excited with the gifts he, Quartz and Sans got her.

“Chill, Little, we got plenty o’ time…” the other skeleton chuckled at Stitch and sat up on the crumbled sheets of the bed. “Gyftmas ain’t gonna go nowhere.”

Ugh, such ghetto slang. Stitch smirked and blipped to the bed next to his arch-nemesis/rival.  
“Sans, ya slacker, it’s our first Gyftmas as Ginger-Bread’s soulmates. I wanna make dis perfect.”

The much larger skeleton inhaled a drag on the cig and let it waft out through his nasal cavity. Sans then reached into the bedside stand and plucked a bitty-sized santa-hat and plopped it on Stitch’s head. “Dun get yer bones in a knot, Little, Ah got dis all planned out.”

“You!? Yer th’ laziest bag o’ bones I’ve ever met, Sluck. How’d YA plan something worthy fer Angel-cake?!” Above him, his arch-nemesis chuckled lightly.

“Naw, Little, dun fret ‘bout it. She gunna luv anything dat happens so just go wit the flow.”

“Tch, any more flow ya get, yer gonna be a river.” Stitch grumbled and grasped the red and white santa hat on his head. “Fine, but if ya make Angel-cake sad at any time, I’m going to grind yer kneecaps into dust and eat it on my toast.”

“Jus’ chill out, Stitch. She gonna love what WE came up wit.” The shirt-wearing monster grinned a sharp-toothed, lazy smile and motioned to the absolute pile of already wrapped gifts.

Twenty-three presents of varying sizes were already wrapped and labeled, stuck in hazardous groups according to the paper-patterns. Between him and the Lazy-Bones, they had used three rolls of wrapping paper already. Yesterday’s shopping trip was very-much once-in a lifetime experience for two bitties in the wide world. Shops in New Ebott city hosted a butt-ton more merch than Stitch thought possible; along with a wider variety of stores to boot. Unlike the ‘quaint’ hick-water back-town Sans had dubbed the mini-city his Angel-cake (they) lived it, New Ebott City was a melting pot of man and monster economy. Even though Monster-kind lived in a cut-throat world before the Barrier’s fall and were ever-so suspicious and trigger-happy; the majority of them had chilled out enough to keep a functioning economy flowing between humans. It also helped that humans practically threw their money at anything new and exciting.

Monster-made stuff was just that. Who didn’t want a comfortable, spider-thread sweater that came in just the right color, or a color-shifting watch that told a person their caloric intake for the day. So when Sans had mentioned he was spending a few days before Gyftmas in New Ebott City, Blue Quartz jumped on the opportunity to do a little gift-shopping. Being the eldest ‘brother’ Stitch couldn’t just let the Creampuff go gallivanting off to some big new city on his own, and since his Pun-kin chose to stay behind, it was his duty to go with his overly naïve Bitty brother to protect him. (It wasn’t because Stitch had yet to find the ‘perfect’ gift for his Pun-kin in her current town, oh no.) That was two days ago, and Stitch never regretted his decision. The New Ebott stores had so many options to shower his Pun-kin with for Gyftmas. Quartz, also, had went crazy with Sans’s seemingly endless bank account. Creampuff was insatiable with his purchases at Muffet’s Baroque and Treats Boutique. The creampuff had a new love of spider-donuts and cider; enough so that Stitch had to reign him in and remind the Blueberry that it was GYFTMAS shopping, not stuff yourself silly with donuts.

Between, him, Q and Sans, the majority of the gifts were for one person: Her. Yea, sure, they managed to pick up stuff for the other monsters in their lives, like Papyrus, some fish-cuck named Undyne and another crazy-loco-lizard-scientist named Alphys. Stitch hadn’t forgotten about the others of his pack; he wasn’t THAT much of a turd. He got the Creampuff a cute, bitty-sized teal dog bean-buddy that had been hinted at, along with a tiny bag of tumbled stones. ( _It was fecking hilarious that they got kicked out of THAT store for Creampuff swimming in the tumbled-stone tub. Stitch was grateful for Sans having enough brains to record it._ )

Skittles was going to get a super fashionable orange and grey slouch hat hand-made by none-other than the fashionista herself: Muffet. Man, that Spider scared the shit outa him, but she responded delightfully when she somehow sweet-charmed their backstory from the ever-so-polite Quartz. For some unfathomable reason, the cut-throat spideress simply insisted on hand-making poor Skittles a custom hat that would appeal to his Lil Bro side. Of course, Quartz had received his own custom-made teal scarf from Muffet, as the little runt had charmed the Spideress with his devious cuteness.

On the flipside, he had decided on getting his OTHER brothers some good ole classic monster food; Chef and Bitey would certainly enjoy three dozen of Muffet’s sweetest baker’s choice donuts, crumpets and crullers. The female Arachnid monster was simply enamored upon hearing about Bitey and his brother. She would be delighted to meet them soon. Stitch would make sure to stay on her good side; not even wanting to imagine what would happen otherwise. (It didn’t hurt that Sans and Muffet were buddy-buddy.)

Shopping for his pack brothers was a breeze compared to the mad rush to get special, thought-filled gifts for HER. Stitch thanked his Ma for giving him his energetic Blueberry part, otherwise he would have dropped dead after the first ten minutes. Sans had taken him and Creampuff to a minimum of fifteen stores; and that in itself was a gold-medal event for him. Sure, they hadn’t made purchases at ALL of the stores, but the shops that perked their interests were left with less merchandise. Heh…the multi-hobby store M.Y.E was a goldmine for getting things that would make his Ginger-bread’s eyes glow with passion and interest.

The skeletons made out like bandits: a new, monster-made gaming system with six new games and five controllers; three music CDs, two anime-themed socks and three cute shirts; several high-end figures that would most likely fill the three shelves that Sans got just for those. Quartz had chosen his personal gift to her; she would most likely squish the Creampuff into jelly when she opened her very own Master Sword life-like replica. Heh, she loved the game franchise the item came from; and it would go well displayed right over her bedroom door.

“I noticed most of em are from all of us, Lazy-Bones. Where’s yers, O-Mighty-Planner.” Stitch snarked and finally found his smile, throwing it right back at the larger monster. “I ain’t gonna let cha go without a personal gift ta Cupcake, Sluck…”

“Hehe, Ye o’ tiny faith, Bones.” Sans finally stood up and reached back to grab his own Santa-hat and jammed it on his white shiny bone-dome. Stepping over to a once-black screen on the end of the bed, Sans picked up the device and flicked his phalanges to wake the tech up.

“What’s that for? Ya got her a piece of tech!?” Stitch snorted and hopped over closer to inspect the monster-device. It was shaped like an iPad, smelt like an iPad and looked like an iPad.

“’Member when Ah showed cha th’ pressure machine in da basement?” Sans asked his tiny packmate, lowering the screen to show him.

“Yea, th’ one that told me yer a science dork?” Stitch reached up with his clawed hands and perused the screen. On the soft, blue-lit read-out was, from what he could understand, was a diagram of some symmetrical lattice next to a generic picture of a diamond.

“What’s dis for?”

“’Member when Paps screamed at me when all dat carbon was delivered at our place?” Sans asked.

“Yea.” He chuckled, thinking about on that oh-so-angry discussion over Thanksgiving dinner. There was lots of screaming and shouting and more screaming at Sans and his weird habits.

“Since findin’ out ‘bout Sugar-Shot’s luv of da sparklies, Ah figured Ah could make ‘er ‘er own mega-diamond.”

Stitch’s eyelights blew wide as his brain made the connection. Hooolleee shite-balls. When the semi-truck full of carbon material dropped off their delivery in the municipal backyard, Stitch finally thought the skeleton monster had lost it and was going to burn the f-ing world down. But no, the science-grade carbon was for science.

“No way, Skelle-bro. Yer makin’ yer own diamond!?”

“Yup. Ah did some sciencing, an’ came up wit an ‘mount enough t’ make a fist-size diamond. Cuz Sugar-Shot is worth every molecule.”

“DUUDE! She’s totally gonna hug yer bones, Bro!” Stitch stood there, staring at the inspiring – and terrifying – genius of the large skeleton. A synthetic diamond the size of her fist! She was going to go bonkers over it. Then he remembered what he got Her, and Stitch felt a wave of sadness swamp him.

“What’s wrong, Little?” Sans tossed the schematics on the bed and let his body follow afterwards.

“I didn’t…she’s not gonna like my gift, Skelle-dork…I hate you.”

The bed shifted as the heavier skeleton sat up and reached out to Stitch.

“Hay, none of dat, Little, Cupcake luvs ya jus as much as she does mah sorry arse. She gonna luv whateva ya give ‘er.”

“Ya arse-faced dust-bone.” He sniffled, dragging a bone hand across his much smaller nasal cavity and sat on Sans’s hand. “I hope yer right; and she choses to wear my gift…it’s just…not fair I had t’ buy mine and ya get to literally make yers.”

Blipping down to grab the black velvet box that was just as big as him, Stitch stood back on the bed to pry open the device. Nestled within the fuzzy cushioning was a high-quality leather strip of a collar/choker. It was divided into three strips that sported beautiful green and blue gemstones called Echoite, which was a rare precious stone straight from the Underground. The colors that strongly reminded him of her Soul.

“Yea, well, it’s th’ thought ‘hind it, Little. She gonna luv da choker, trust me.”

The door slammed open, startling both skeletons as the Creampuff loudly announced:

“ITS SNOWING, BROTHER!”


End file.
